Bright Eyes
by Chaser-Chick
Summary: Hermione Granger has gone through many rough times at Hogwarts. However, when the war with Voldemort makes her lose something that she never really had (coughRONcough), Hermione takes her fate into her own hands and changes her destiny forever.
1. Prologue

Bright Eyes  
  
By: Sweetheart  
  
(A/N I just want to say that I wrote this when I was sick and running a fever. If it seems weird, then there's your reason. This story just took on a life of its own and just grew and grew. I pre-apologize for any headaches it may cause. The characters in Bright Eyes are extremely out of character. Sorry, it was the fever writing, I think.)  
  
Prologue  
  
Hermione sat in the dark office and stared out the window at the Egyptian sunset. It was like the ones that she used to watch all alone out of her dormitory window at Hogwarts. It had been four years since those days at school, and to tell the truth, Hermione didn't know if she was happier then or now.  
  
Sure, she had gone through some hard times, since those days, but they had all come out to a wonderful ending. It had been no fairy tale though. She had lost people close to her, and she had watched ones that she loved get hurt. The worst part was that even if she had wanted to, there was nothing that she could have done about it.  
  
Still Hermione blamed herself for some mistakes that she had made- even if they were destiny and never really her fault-, but if she hadn't made those mistakes, would the same blessings that she would have been given be nonexistent as well? Such questions filled Hermione's mind as she stared at the sunset and reminiscing about the past and wondering about the future.  
  
No more were the days of carefree bliss but then again never were the days of carefree bliss. Never had Hermione ever been truly happy. If one thing was right for her, another was going wrong. However, soon that would come to an end. Hermione had two years of wondering and searching for answers and they all came down to this.  
  
If she got this one chance for a few more answers, she might just solve the puzzle. Everything that she had ever known and ever read had been poured into this cause. All the other pieces of the puzzle fell into place shortly after the final battle, but this one had been a mystery up until about a year ago. From then on, it had slowly began to fall into place. All they needed was one final push and these people were the only one that could give it to them.  
  
Hermione stared around the bleak office and watched as the pink and orange rays of the sun danced across the shelves illuminating the spines of all the books. A pudgy man sat at the desk and listened intently to the person at Hermione's side.  
  
Hermione smiled as she looked at him. He hardly looked like the boy that he had been only four years ago. Then again the boy that he had been had not seen the things that this man had seen. Hermione took that chance to study herself as well.  
  
If you had told her four years ago that she would be here today, she would have laughed at you. If you would have told her that the person sitting next to her was none other than one of her best friends, she would have only sighed and hoped that she could be that close with him, but would have still though that you were of your rocker.  
  
After all, Hermione was not the same Hermione that she had been. She had never really understood why bad things always seemed to happen to her. She had just always decided that whatever happened could not be changed and that was logic. Right?  
  
However, Hermione soon found out that logic was overrated. Logic had been one of Hermione's pet peeves on school. Everything always had a rhythm or reason for happening. Whenever something bad happened, even if it had seemed to take a turn for the worse, in the end, everything would always turn out right.  
  
Then, something had happened that had defied logic. After that, Hermione had not been capable of logical thought. It had seemed like it could not get any worse and then it had. Everything had seemed like it was falling out of place. It had been like the world was being turned upside down. Hermione had never been so confused as she had been then and in that second of comprehension, logic had gone out of the window.  
  
In that moment, Hermione had taken her destiny into her own hands and she was forever grateful for that one moment. For without that one moment, her life would not have turned out the same. Everything that she now knew and loved would have been different. If she hadn't taken control of her life and though beyond logic, Hermione didn't know what would have happened, but she was glad that she had.  
  
Would things have turned out the same way if Hermione had always though inside the box? You see the beauty of magic is there is no box. Therefore it is impossible to stay inside. The barriers Hermione had abided by were of her own creation.  
  
Now, Hermione's destiny hung in the balance once more with nothing more than an opinion or a hunch to decide her fate. Fate usually played her a cruel hand, but fate is what has made Hermione who she is today.  
  
Hermione closed her eyes for a second and reflected in all that had happened and how everything she had known had changed all because of that one moment that she had abandoned logic. Once again, Hermione had no idea what would happen as the pudgy man leaned back in his chair and looked out the very same window that Hermione had been staring out of only a minute ago.  
  
Hermione sighed and though about her past, present and future. What she could do, what she was doing now, and how she had fought to get there ran through her mind. To think that it had all started fours years ago at a school named Hogwarts at a time when Hermione had thought that her life had been planned out for her, but she was wrong.  
  
If anything, Hermione's past had been uncertain, at the least. However, don't take my word for it, see for yourself. 


	2. No Regrets

Chapter One  
  
No Regrets  
  
Hermione Granger walked down the halls of Hogwarts with sorrow in her every step. A tear silently leaked down her cheek and she wiped it on her sleeve like she had the ones before it. She had always known it was a matter of time before the works of Voldemort affected even Hogwarts, but she never thought that it would affect them like it had. They would always be together, or so Hermione thought.  
  
Hermione sunk up against a wall and started to cry. She had been shaken when Voldemort had attacked her parents last year, but she had friends to help her through it. Now, she was alone.  
  
Her parents had been too ill to even know their only daughter's name. She had gotten through it though. However now, she was alone. Her life was falling apart in her hands and to make matters worse, there was nothing she could do.  
  
There she was, in her seventh year, Head Girl, plenty of job offers to go round. She had a bright future ahead of her, with good friends. Nothing could possibly get better, but then it couldn't possibly get any worse.  
  
Today had started just like any other, ordinary day. Hermione had woke up, got dressed, and went down to the common room just as normal. There she met her best friends in the world Harry, Ron, and Ginny, and together they set off for the Great Hall. Together, Hermione thought, together.  
  
"So," Harry said to Ron, "what do you think about the new Star-Scraper broom series? Pretty cool, I got the catalog in last night. Quidditch team sent it."  
  
Ron laughed and replied, "More Quidditch offers, Harry?"  
  
Harry slightly blushed and said, "Well ...yeah, but I'm not going to take 'em."  
  
Ron smirked and said, "Yeah I know. But I'm just saying that you're a damn fool. If I were you I'd take the job as soon as the owl landed in my hand. I mean what team hasn't tried to recruit you. Let's see there was the Chudley Cannons, the Whimborn Wasps, the Chudley Cannons, Plumbrick United, the Chudley Cannons, the Hudson..."  
  
"All right Ron," said Harry blushing, "I get the picture. I'm a fool for not going for the Chudley Cannons, but what can I say. That's not what I want to do for the rest of my life. I would prefer just to settle down and live a nice quiet life with a job that doesn't involve getting knocked in the head with various balls."  
  
Ron pouted and Ginny chimed in, "Come on Ron. Are you jealous?"  
  
Ron made a "humph" sound and said, "No, I just think that Harry is a fool."  
  
Hermione smiled, some things never changed. Ron and Ginny would always fight like cats and dogs, but when it came down to it they would give their lives for each other. Ginny would always have that little schoolgirl crush on Harry (even thought it had exceeded a meaningless crush now). Ron would always pout like a four-year-old when he didn't get his way, and bounce back one minute later forgetting whatever it had been.  
  
Yeah, Hermione thought, some things never change and yet, others do. Hermione always wondered what it would be like if they hadn't all met, if she had never gone in the bathroom and cry her eyes out only to be attacked by a troll and saved by Harry and Ron.  
  
Ron, she thought, had been the reason that she was in there. If he would have never said that 'too-smart-for-her-own-good' comment in the first place they might not even be friends. Heck, they might even be dead.  
  
Yet, maybe if Ron and Hermione hadn't been that good of friends in the first place, just maybe, Ron would notice that she was no longer busy- haired, buck toothed Hermione. Maybe he would see what he saw in the other girls. Maybe, he wouldn't think of her as a best friend, maybe …just maybe, something a little bit more than that.  
  
OK, so her hair still had that somewhat bushy quality to it, but her teeth were not as big and you had to admit that her curves weren't all that bad either.  
  
She was not the only one who had changed. Harry now stood tall and slightly muscular. His bangs, which he had always worn long to hide his scar, fell in right in his eyes. Which made even Hermione want to tuck them behind his ears sometimes, but never as much as Ginny wanted too.  
  
Ginny was different too. Her hair now darkened and lengthened to halfway down her shoulders. Her figure was slimmer than Hermione's and she was only slightly shorter than her as well. She was no longer just Ginny Weasley. Ginny was a school heartthrob and some had taken to calling her Ginger (much to Ron, Percy, Fred, George, Bill, Charlie's, and-her honorary brother and maybe something more-Harry's disapproval).  
  
However, Ginny was not the one who had changed the most. Ron now stood slightly taller than Harry at a height of 6'2. He was now slightly defined and his deep blue eyes made it hard to keep eye contact with him without giggling like a fool-for Hermione at least.  
  
His hands were large and had a protecting quality to them. Now he wore his favorite shirt and faded blue jeans, which clung tightly to him from underneath his Hogwarts school robes, this made him look older.  
  
His hair tousled and still bright red, even thought his freckles had faded and now only could be seen when he got a sunburn which didn't happen often as he was already tanned to a mild quality.  
  
Hermione laughed as she watched Ron's expressions change. Even though he had grown up and could sometimes be as serious as a heart attack, he still had that boy-like quality to him and the Weasley temper did not get better with age.  
  
Although, most of Ron and Hermione's fights lasted within two days tops, they were some of the most brilliant rows that Gryffindor, nay, Hogwarts for that matter, had ever seen. However, when Ron and Hermione did fight they always made up.  
  
It seemed as if they had bonded in the last two years. Hermione and Ron knew more secrets about each other than Lavender and Pavartti knew gossip. They would never let anyone (not even Harry or Ginny) on to just how close they had become. It was an unspoken bond between them. They were confidantes to each other.  
  
It had happened in fifth year. Hermione had never been close to the other girls and really didn't want to tell them all of her secrets for fear of them being included in the latest gossip scoop from Lavender or Pavartti. Up until fifth year, Ron had always had Harry to lean on, but then the Voldemort business started and both Ron and Hermione felt that Harry didn't need their problems, especially when his were ten times as worse. Thus, they went to each other when they needed support.  
  
All four of them sat down at the Gryffindor table and Ron looked at Hermione with his deep, piercing blue eyes. Hermione felt as if her mind was being read when he looked at her like that. When Ron gave Hermione 'that' stare, she knew there was no hiding it. She knew that Ron would find out.  
  
"What up Bright Eyes?" Ron casually asked as Harry and Ginny immersed themselves in a heated conversation about animagius.  
  
Hermione smiled and replied trying to change the subject, "Nothing, Ron, could you pass the juice?"  
  
Ron leaned in to her and said, "Hermione, I know something is wrong. I just called you Bright Eyes and you didn't even say a thing to me. And I would pass the juice, but there is none at this table. In fact there's none anywhere. Why hasn't the food come yet?"  
  
Hermione looked around and shrugged. At that moment Dumbledore came into the Great Hall looked sadly around at his students. His age was showing now. The twinkle in his eyes was less today than it had ever been. His hands trembled as he sighed.  
  
This was so unlike the Dumbledore they knew and loved. However, the Dumbledore they knew and loved had been tested to his limit and found that not even he could put a brighter light on this, not even he could make this better.  
  
"Attention students," he announced, "will all seventh year boys come to my office immediately."  
  
Harry and Ron looked at each other and Harry said, "I hope he doesn't know about us putting the grow-better potion in Snape's soup."  
  
Ron grinned back, but Hermione knew that it had nothing to do with Potions and soup. She knew that Ron knew too. As he might be able to fool his sister and best friend, he would not be able to fool her. Just as Ron could tell something was wrong with her, she could tell when he was hiding something. They could never fool each other.  
  
Harry and Ron got up and walked out of the Great Hall. They came toward the Headmaster and followed him into a room with the other seventh year boys. Ginny looked at Harry, but quickly dismissed the thought of anything bad happening to him, as it seemed impossible.  
  
Ron turned and shrugged to her and Ginny as some official looking people followed them in. This had absolutely nothing to do with Potions or soup. Hermione knew it and Ron knew it, but there was still that hope that it wasn't as bad as it looked. It was hope, even if it was in vain.  
  
The door closed shut behind Ron. The official looking men stood to the back of the oval shaped room. There was a desk at the far end and Dumbledore was sitting at it looking strangely somber.  
  
Ron weakly smiled at the men, but they made no effort to show any sort of happiness, or emotion for the matter, back to him. Ron smirked and thought, that can only mean one thing, they are from the ministry.  
  
There was silence for a moment and then Dumbledore began, "I have always been truthful to my students about everything that has been going on in the outside world good and bad. As some would like to believe, there is nothing happening out there. However, that it a lie. I do not prefer to let to my student so therefore, I will not be blunt. We are losing the war with Voldemort. There are many causalities and supplies are low and in high demand and one of them is..."  
  
Dumbledore bowed his head and sighed looking up at the men in the far corner of the room. One of them nodded his head and Dumbledore looked upon the faces of his former students, trying to imprint their young, innocent faces into his memory.  
  
" ...one of them is soldiers," Dumbledore sighed and continued, "There is a draft being instituted now and it includes seventh year boys. Hogwarts will be closed and everyone will leave tomorrow, however you will not go home to your parents. You will take a different train to a war camp and be trained to fight. You leave tomorrow and there is no getting out of this. You have officially graduated from Hogwarts."  
  
The boys looked from one another in shock. They had 24 hours before they had to leave everything they knew behind. 24 hours before they would be on a train to god-knows-where, 24 hours to do anything they had never had the courage to before now, or it might go undone. Only 24 hours…  
  
Dumbledore looked at the boys and said with what looked like the last bit of twinkle he had and said, "You all have been taught well. Use what you have learned and be wise. Make the right decisions. I believe in you all."  
  
Neville was shuttering with fear. Draco was pale as a stone. Harry stood and looked forward, knowing it wouldn't get any better if he ignored it. Ron stood and bowed his head. He would have only 24 hours to make up for three years. Only a day to fit in what he should have done long ago.  
  
The boys were let out in the Great Hall after being handed their official draft papers. Harry and Ron sat down in their seats and began to eat, having nothing to say to anyone. From down the table Lavender started to cry in Shamus' arms.  
  
"No!" Lavender screamed, "you can't leave me! Don't leave me! I love you Shamus don't go."  
  
Hermione watched on as Lavender cried in Shamus arms. He slightly stroked her hair and rocked her back and forth. Him holding her in his arms, but Lavender didn't seem to notice that he was shaking. The Great Hall was soon filled with such sounds. Hermione looked at Ron.  
  
"What's going on?" Hermione said in almost not wanting Ron to answer.  
  
Ron picked his head up and Hermione could see that his eyes were a bit red. Hermione leaned closer to Ron and pleaded with her eyes. Begging to know what was wrong. Praying that he would tell her it was nothing more than being caught in the Grow-better-soup prank, but knowing better. Ron merely picked up the letter and handed it to her. It read:  
  
Mr. Weasley  
  
We are certain that you are aware of the present condition. This is why we feel it necessary to draft men of the appropriate ages (30-17) to fight along side our volunteers.  
  
This is not a question or an offer. We are very sorry to be blunt, but you have been chosen in this draft. Our apologies, however we at the ministry feel it necessary.  
  
There will be a train to take you to your War Camp site tomorrow. Pack lightly and only bring the necessary. We await your arrival.  
  
It is time to do your duty to your kind. With your help we may prevail.  
  
1 Our regrets  
  
  
  
Sergeant Jack Mabry  
  
Head of the Department of War  
  
Britain Ministry of Magic  
  
Hermione dropped the letter and let it fall to the ground. Ginny picked it up and stared in disbelief. It couldn't be possible. They had only one day left. Hermione may never see them again. It was too much.  
  
Hermione got up and ran out of the Great Hall. No one tried to stop her. She ran and ran until she couldn't any more. She slowed to a walk. She clutched her Head Girl badge and threw it across the hall. It seemed that nothing mattered to her anymore.  
  
First her parents now her friends. She heard someone come her way. One of the teachers no doubt, but a teacher would have said something to her right now. Whoever it was picked up the badge and sat next to her.  
  
Hermione recognized the scent. He had always smelled lightly of ripe oranges and beach air-a scent that Hermione though smelled good on Ron. Hermione breathed in the scent and felt more tears find their way down her cheeks. She may never breathe in his scent again.  
  
"Lo' Ron," Hermione said.  
  
Ron laughed and said, "Why the long face Bright Eyes?"  
  
Hermione smiled, he had called her Bright Eyes ever since an accident last year that made her eyes glow for a week. Thus earning her the nickname Bright Eyes. She normally hated this nickname, but Ron had been persistent in calling her that-mostly because he knew that nicknames bothered her to all extent. It used to get under her skin, but now she felt it strangely comforting. She laid her head on his shoulder and sobbed.  
  
"Come now," Ron said, "we're not gone forever."  
  
Hermione continued to sob and said, "You'll go and die and ...and I'll never see you again."  
  
Ron pulled her close and said, "Course I will. Me and Harry have been through worse."  
  
Hermione sobbed and said, "Yeah, you have but never without me. I want to be there with you. Why couldn't they just draft the whole seventh year? Why do they have to be so damned sexist? I am just as capable, if not more, than you."  
  
"Nope," Ron said smiling, "you have to stay here. You've got a future ahead of you. Like you said, you're more than capable of being a soldier than we are. You're going to do better things than just being a soldier. Plus, do you really think that they wanted Pansy Parkinson there complaining about her nails the whole time?"  
  
Hermione knew she had to face the truth, she loved Ron. She always had and always would. When she was in sixth year she promised herself to tell him that, but her parents had been attacked. Ron had helped her through that more than anyone else. Hermione didn't know how much sleep he had lost all those nights in the common room when she cried herself to sleep in his arms, but it wasn't as much as she had when she though that he could never love her as more than a friend.  
  
She didn't know how many times he had done her homework for her so she would ruin her grades. She didn't know how many times he had talked her out of doing stupid things. All Hermione knew was that he had done more for her than Harry, Ginny, or anyone. He was always there, and now he wouldn't ever be again.  
  
Now, he would be there to make her laugh in the middle of History of Magic when she was bored, and now he wouldn't be there to taunt her about the S.P.E.W. campaign she had held in her fourth year. Now, he wouldn't be able to tell her that everything would be OK when she felt like her life was falling apart. Now, when she woke up, she would know that he wasn't waiting down stairs to take her to breakfast.  
  
Now, Ron would never be there for her, and he didn't know how she felt. Hermione would gladly give up everything she had just to have one more day with him loving her like she did him. One day and then maybe she would be able to move on, but then again, Hermione knew that it would only leave her wishing for one more day with him.  
  
"Ron, I don't want a future," Hermione said.  
  
"Yes, you do," Ron said, "your going to go out there and get a nice, well paying job and go and do great things. Things that are better than being a soldier."  
  
"You don't understand," said Hermione, "all I want is to go back to this morning where everything was fine, and we could be just friends. I want to go back to all those nights where when I feel asleep the last thing I remember is your voice. I want to just stay here, at Hogwarts, with you …forever. I don't want to move on with my life, or do great things. That would mean leaving you behind, forgetting you, and that is something that I can't do, no matter how much I want to or how many people tell me that I should."  
  
Hermione's eyes brimmed with more tears as she spoke in a shaky voice, "Ronald Weasley I love you and you've had me from the moment you said hello. It's all but killed me to know that you didn't love me, or couldn't love me, the way I have loved you. Through this all you've kept me together without even knowing it. I know that you don't love me, but it doesn't matter because you're going to leave me anyway. So just go! If your here any longer ...I'll do something I'll regret."  
  
Ron stood for a second and said, "Funny isn't it."  
  
Hermione looked deadly seriously at him and said, "I find nothing about you not loving me and me going crazy because I'm losing you funny."  
  
Ron held the Head Girl Badge in his hands stroking it saying, "It's funny because you don't know all the times when you were asleep I've told you I love you. You don't know how many times I've tried to tell you that, but I couldn't because I thought you didn't love me. Last year when your parents were attacked, it killed me to see you cry. It was then I thought you would never love me. All through these years its been you that have helped me when I got behind, you that told me to get over things, and you who listened to me when I wanted to complain. Then when you needed me I couldn't do anything about it. I tried, but I suddenly realized how much I needed you, and you were too good for me. I couldn't make you feel better like you could me. All I could do was hope that you could get through it on your own. Then, I thought that you didn't love me because every time I tried to make you feel better …it made you feel worse."  
  
Ron pocketed the Head Girls badge and sunk down the wall and sat near Hermione saying, "If I would have known that you loved me, I ...don't know what I would have done …but I would have felt like the happiest bloke in the world."  
  
"I wish we could just go back to this morning."  
  
"Me too."  
  
Ron and he sat for a while. He looked at her face and wiped a tear from her eyes with his thumb and followed to tuck her hair behind her ear. He kissed her forehead, then her nose, then her eyelids, then her temple.  
  
She ran her hand over his temple where his scar was from their first year when he took the blow from the knight, so she would not get taken instead. Ron brought her to a standing position and she quickly felt her knees give way. She was losing everything she had.  
  
Hermione felt Ron pull her closer, she wanted badly to kiss him, but if she did then she didn't know what she'd do. Ron's lips and hers were a fraction apart. She wanted to, but she couldn't. Hermione pulled away. She couldn't love him, not now that he was leaving. She couldn't never be true to these feeling she had about him.  
  
Hermione stared at her and said, "Hermione if you don't want to..."  
  
"That's the problem," she said through tears, "I want to. I want that and more, but if I kiss you then it will only make me miss you more when you go. I can't!"  
  
With that Hermione turned and ran. She ran down the corridors of the castle. She ran up to Gryffindor tower, but the tears blurred her eyes and she ran into something very solid.  
  
It was a suit of armor. It came crashing down on top of her. Hermione screamed as she felt the pieces hit her and something going right through her side. She was in horrible pain. The something that went through her side was a lance. Hermione felt blood ooze out of her side and soak her shirt and robes. Hermione knew if someone didn't find her soon, she might die.  
  
Then she felt someone lift her gently. They brought her through the portrait hole and she felt them climb the stairs as they held her. She felt them laying her down on a bed. Hermione opened her eyes and saw Ron. He was adjusting the pillow to keep the side that the lance had pierced up.  
  
"Ron," Hermione said weakly.  
  
"Hermione," he said, "I'm going get Madam Pomfery, she'll fix you up in no time. Just stay still and …I'll be back soon."  
  
Hermione knew how badly she was hurt and said, "Ron just do it."  
  
Ron looked stunned at her and said, "Hermione, I can't. I going to get Madam ..."  
  
Hermione called back her last bit of strength and said hotly, "Like hell you can't! You're better than me at healing people, and if you go and get Madam Pomfery, I might not be here when you get back."  
  
Ron hesitated and said, "Hermione I..."  
  
"Just do it!" Hermione yelled.  
  
Ron knew she was right. He lifted up her school robes and saw the deep wound the spear had made. Ron knew he couldn't do anything if he couldn't see the direct wound, but that would mean...  
  
"Ron," Hermione said, "please."  
  
Ron looked into her eyes. She was breathing hardly now and the wound wouldn't stop bleeding. Ron hands shook, but he had no choice. He hesitantly unbuttoned the red shirt half way and saw the wound on Hermione's side. The spear still was stuck through it. It hadn't hit any organs and it seemed only to have gone through skin. Ron knew he could heal it but still hesitated. Hermione looked at him and put her hand on his. She was shaking something terrible.  
  
Ron put his hand on hers and said, "If that's what you want."  
  
Hermione smiled and her hand dropped. Ron had broken the ends of the knight's spear when he had taken her but part of it was still in her side. There was no way that he could heal it if it wasn't taken out. Carefully,  
  
Quickly he performed a spell, and it was done. Hermione was all right. Ron ran his hand across the now healed wound testing to see if the spell had worked. It had.  
  
Ron gently brought the piece of red material to cover Hermione's stomach, but Hermione stopped him. She pulled him down and kissed him. This time it was Ron who pulled back.  
  
"Hermione," he panted, "we can't."  
  
Hermione sat up and said, "Please."  
  
Hermione's eyes pleaded with his. She wanted to and he did too, but he couldn't. He was leaving tomorrow morning and might never see her again. It would only be one night for him, but it could effect her forever. Hermione didn't care though and soon enough Ron lost the ability to think, he did love her and even though this was wrong, a part of him felt it was destiny.  
  
Hermione wasn't thinking clearly either. She kissed him again and again without care. Each kiss growing with more passion. One day with Ron, one day and that would be it. One day to memorize everything about him. One more day to be his Bright Eyes. Was it worth it?  
  
Yes, it was.  
  
(A/N: Now I know that Hermione or Ron would never in a million years do that, but it doesn't work if they don't. If you read on you'll see what I mean.)  
  
Neither Harry nor Ginny came to bother them that day. Hermione spent all day in there with Ron. No one seemed to care that Ron and her stayed together all night. The following morning Hermione woke up, alone, with a note pressed in her hand. She opened it and something fell out. Hermione picked it up and read the note:  
  
Dear Bright Eyes,  
  
Sorry I have to leave you. I'm not really good with good-byes. I don't have the heart to wake you because I know if I do it will be harder to leave. I really don't have a choice. I want you to know that I will miss you.  
  
When we were here I always promised that I would tell you I liked you, but I more than liked you. I loved you. I guess I waited too late to say it. I love you, Hermione Granger, just in case you never knew. I always loved you and always will.  
  
I bought this ring this summer. Please wear it. On this inside of it is an engraving. It's nothing special but I'm really nothing special either. Where ever you are remember me.  
  
Wherever you are, wait for me. I will always wait for you. I love you Hermione Granger. Not distance, nor war, or anything will change that. I always have from the first days I met you.  
  
I'm sorry about the troll. I guess that was my fault. I never told you I was sorry. I'm not good at good-byes so don't think of it as a goodbye, think of it as see you later. I will see you again meanwhile wait for me. I love you.  
  
I will always love you my Bright Eyes. Love me too.  
  
Ron  
  
Hermione looked at her ring and saw the engraving. It said 'R. W. & H. G. 4-ever'. Hermione cried. She slid the ring on and gathered her things. Why couldn't she just go with him? She wanted Ron more than anything else, she wanted what she couldn't have.  
  
Ginny was waiting down stairs with her stuff. She smiled at her. Hermione weakly smiled back and took her trunk. Ginny knew what happened yet didn't give her a hard time. She loved Hermione like a sister and felt her pain. Hermione had loved and lost, nothing could hurt worse.  
  
"Ready," Ginny said.  
  
Hermione looked back at her and said, "No, but I guess I'll never be ready then will I."  
  
Hermione looked back across the common room. This was the last time she would see it. Ginny sensed her suffering and put he hand on he shoulder and Hermione cried. She felt dead. No parents, no Hogwarts, and no ...Ron.  
  
The train ride home was emotional for everyone. Lavender and Pavartti cried the whole way home. Pansy Parkinson sat in the corner and tried to hide her red face. Ginny stared out the window and mouthed the name Harry. All her tears cried. Hermione, like Ginny, had no more tears. She sat at the window and looked at her ring.  
  
The train pulled into a stop at King's Cross. Hermione evacuated the train. No one was waiting for her. She expected as much. Hermione took it off and put it on a chain around her neck. She knew what she had to do.  
  
After all, what boy wore a ring?  
  
******************  
  
The next day a young man walked up to the Ministry of Magic Headquarters. He strode through the doors and walked up to the Department of War. The head of office sat back in his chair and looked at the man.  
  
He was average height and looked in shape. His light brown hair looked tousled on his head. He looked about seventeen. He had chestnut brown eyes and a fair complexion.  
  
"Mr. Mabry," said the boy, "you forgot me in the draft."  
  
Mr. Mabry put down his newspaper and said, "So what brings you here?"  
  
The boy repeated, "You forgot me in the draft."  
  
Mr. Mabry sighed and said, "We don't make mistakes."  
  
The boy stepped forward and said, "You did this time. Now you forgot me. I want to do my part in this war crap like it says in that letter, but if you don't have the time. I'm sure I'll be much happier at home."  
  
The boy turned to leave when Mr. Mabry called him back.  
  
"I like your spunk kid," he said, "what's you name?"  
  
The boy thought and said, "Herman Grunting."  
  
Mr. Mabry got up and handed him a letter saying, "Well Herman, welcome to the army. You will be taken to your War Camp in 200 hours."  
  
Herman saluted him and walked out, a smile across his face and a twinkle in his eye. He clasped a chain around his neck and felt the ring at the end of it. It would be hard but 'Herman Grunting' aka Bright Eyes could pull off anything. Bright Eyes would not give up, and those who thought Bright Eyes would were horribly mistaken. No one would dare cross Hermione Granger, and Bright Eyes was no exception. 


	3. In the Line of Fire

First off I would like to thank all my wonderful and inspirational reviewers:  
  
Prudence the Rushmore Yankee  
  
jackrussel666  
  
Chaucer  
  
L James  
  
Madison  
  
H. Krum  
  
Yoo  
  
FairieDust  
  
ButtaFlyXBabyXWitXHeartX06  
  
Hope I didn't miss anyone. If I did, then I'm sorry!  
  
You don't know how much it means to me that you review my work. I had just about given up on this piece until I posted it here, but with everyone giving me such good comments about it, I just could not refuse to continue.  
  
I also want to say in case there is any confusion that this story is far from over. I already have chapters three, four, and five done and am currently working on chapter six. I suspect that there will be about seven chapters plus an epilogue all a bit longer than the first chapter one in length, but I promise that they are going to be as good-if not better-than the first one.  
  
! Just do me a favor when you read this chapter, DON'T PEEK! Some of my friends-and best critics-peeked at the end and ruined everything. So do yourself and me a favor and read every word as it comes. You'll be glad that you did!  
  
Keep reviewing me. You don't know how much it means!  
  
If the ff.n's review button is not there and your review doesn't show up, please e-mail your review to me at aerabalais@petronet.net . Like I said, reviews keep me going on this story!  
  
  
  
Chapter Two  
  
1.1 In the Line of Fire  
  
(A/N In this part I-other less informed characters will but not me-never refer to Hermione in Herman Grunting form as him or her. I really don't know which one to use so I just use Bright Eyes. If you think about it, it's the only thing they have in common even though they are the same person. Would also like to say that I have never seen how a real army troop works so please, no flames. Also remember that this is Wizard Army so nothing is really physical work, more curse practice. That's why Hermione is so good at it and just remember that when you read this, especially at the end. Enjoy!)  
  
  
  
It was raining a lot outside that day. It had been raining a lot for about a week now. Of course, it really didn't change the mood, dark and depressed was all it ever was. It's hard to be anything else when you were separated from all security that you've ever known.  
  
If you weren't training for a mission you were gathered around the beat up wizarding wireless, praying that your family and friends wouldn't be in the news for bad purposes. All the boys gathered around the wireless and bowed their heads as the names were read praying that they didn't recognize any of them, but of course someone always did.  
  
Not a day had gone by without one of the boys breaking something out of frustration or having gotten emotional. Emotional meaning throwing things and hexing people for no reason. That was the problem with boys, they never wanted to let anyone know that they felt pain, when they obviously did.  
  
So every night the officers made up a secluded bedroom and put the emotional boy in there, taking their wands so they couldn't "Avada Kedarva" themselves. Just about all of the boys had been in that room, except one.  
  
The same boy who never showed happiness or sadness, the boy who never even sat by the wireless to hear the news. The boy who ate lunch by himself and never talked to anyone.  
  
"The boy" was what they knew him by. "The boy's" name was Herman Grunting, but no one knew him well enough to call him that. Only one person had heard "the boy's" nickname, and that was Bright Eyes. True, it was girlie, but then again no one would dare cross him about it. For Bright Eyes had perfect aim and Bright Eyes' curses were deadly and hard to escape.  
  
There were only stories about how Bright Eyes got that nickname. Some said it was the look in Bright Eyes' eyes before Bright Eyes killed, some said it was the fact that Bright Eyes was the brightest of them all. Some hadn't a clue. Most wanted to leave it that way.  
  
Bright Eyes never received visits or was ever snuck a letter. Some said it was because Bright Eyes had no friends, some said it was because Bright Eyes wanted to follow the rules about no letters, some said that Bright Eyes got them, but didn't show them. Of course, 'some' always said a lot of things, but 'some' are seldom right.  
  
Bright Eyes didn't receive letters, but it wasn't because Bright Eyes wanted to follow the rules or Bright Eyes didn't have friends. It was because no one knew where to find Bright Eyes and it was because 'Herman Grunting' didn't really exist, however, Hermione Granger did and so did Bright Eyes.  
  
"All up," loudly screamed from a magically magnified voice from somewhere in the War Camp.  
  
All the sleepy boys arose and dressed. Bright Eyes dressed silently in the bathroom. Bright Eyes had never came and dressed with the rest of the boys. Everyone thought it was weird, but Bright Eyes had the general's favoritism, and he was one of their junior troop leader, so no one argued.  
  
They lined up for inspection and waited as the commanding officers checked their uniforms and their bunks. The officers paced up and down the row, yelling at each person for wrinkled clothes and ruffled bedspreads. The officers passed by one Private Herman Grunting and simply nodded.  
  
"See me in my office Private Grunting," said the officer.  
  
"Sir, yes sir," Bright Eyes yelled.  
  
The officer nodded again and moved on. Private Grunting had always been one of his best students. He was good, too good. War Training Camp was not the place for him. He needed to be out on the line of fire.  
  
He might make it out there. Merlin knows they could use all the help they could get these days. Even if it was a shame to risk the life of such a young, talented, Private, at their current state, the rest of the trainees would not be ready for combat for at least another month.  
  
So it had been that orders from the War Department had set up a trade. A young trainee at another War Camp needed much more time to prepare for any mission. His group was succeeding with flying colors and their mission would start soon. So they would trade.  
  
A rap on the office door signified the Privates arrival. The officer sighed and looked at the transcripts once more. It was clear what he had to do, but it wasn't as if he wanted to have his most valuable soldier taken away from him. Of course, orders were orders. So what other choice did he have?  
  
"Come in," said the officer.  
  
Private Grunting came in and said in a military like voice, "Sir, you wanted to see me sir."  
  
The officer sighed and replied, "At ease Private, have a seat."  
  
Bright Eyes took a seat in the closest chair and the officer began, "Private Grunting, are you aware of how your progress is coming along?"  
  
Bright Eyes soundly replied, "Sir, I find that is for you to decide as my commanding officer, sir."  
  
The officer smiled and said, "That's what I like about you Private, you don't boast and you respect authority."  
  
Bright Eyes said in a military like voice, "Sir permission to speak freely, sir."  
  
"Permission granted," said the officer. Irritable  
  
Bright Eyes hesitated and replied, "Sir, may I ask why I have come here? I doubt it was to pay me a compliment."  
  
The officer smiled and said, "That's another thing about you I like, no time for bullshit, in and out, cut and dry. You'll make a fine soldier one of these days. You might want to think about a career in the military when this war is over. You have enough wits and the right attitude."  
  
Bright Eyes remain emotionless by appearance and said, "Sir, why am I in your office?"  
  
The officer stood up from his chair and went to the back of the room. He pulled down part of the blinds and looked at the group outside. They were doing exercises now and would soon be done. Soon they would begin curse practices. The first time Private Grunting had come here, he had known just about everyone there was. Even then he had been good. He let the blinds go and turned back to the Private, ready to answer his question.  
  
"The fact is," the officer began, "you're here because you are one of the best. Your teammates are good, but you are the best. As you may know we are facing a very strong opponent. At the rate this war is going our side won't last much longer, but at the rate we are going we have not added in the new recruits. That is why I have called you here today. As I have said, your team is good, but not the best. Therefore we will not be going to the front lines anytime soon. However, you will."  
  
The officer paused for a moment to see the reaction on the Privates face, it remained emotionless, so the officer continued, and "We have received a owl from the War Department of the Ministry of Magic. They have already selected the first team of new recruits to go on a mission. There is one soldier that will not go though. He is weak and needs more practice. Therefore the Ministry has set up a trade. You will be traded to that group and we will be receiving a Private Longbottom in return."  
  
The officer stopped for a moment and almost thought he saw a smile cross Private Grunting's face but quickly dismissed the thought since he had not ever seen Private Grunting smiled and continued, "Pack your things Private, you leave at noon today."  
  
Bright Eyes stood up and said in that military voice, "Sir, thank you, sir."  
  
The officer stood up and replied in that military voice, "Dismissed."  
  
Bright Eyes turned to walk out the door but the officer abruptly said to him, "And Private ...be careful.  
  
Bright Eyes nodded and left the room. Bright Eyes was no longer going to stay in this war camp for now Bright Eyes was going to the lines of fire. Maybe now Bright Eyes had a chance of doing what 'Herman Grunting' had really come to do.  
  
Bright Eyes finished packing and neatly did the bed. It really had not been Bright Eye's own bed. It had just been a bed. Nothing around here belonged to anyone. It was just used by them.  
  
Bright Eyes lay down on the bed and stared at the bunk above that one. It had been empty for about a week now. The boy who had bunked with Bright Eyes was dead. He had died of a sickness. His girlfriend had died in an attack about two days before he did.  
  
The medical doctor had said it had been some type of yellow fever, but Bright Eyes knew that the sickness that had caused it was a broken heart. For yellow fever had a cure, but a broken heart has none. That's why he died. Not because of some fever, but because he had no reason to live. Bright Eyes knew the feeling well.  
  
Many times Bright Eyes felt like committing suicide but Bright Eyes had a reason to live for or two reasons you could say. The chain Bright Eyes always wore reminded Bright Eyes of one reason. The other was an unspeakable reason. Bright Eyes would tell no one until the right person knew first.  
  
Otherwise, Bright Eyes would search until death and if Bright Eyes died, then no one would be any the wiser. After the right person knew, then Bright Eyes would no longer need to be on the line of fire. After the right person knew. Bright Eyes would wait till then.  
  
Bright Eyes clutched the chain and thought. It was hard for Bright Eyes to think that soon this would all be over because Bright Eyes knew that it was far from over. Even if Bright Eyes made it back home there was still the chance that he would not be there with Bright Eyes. Some many things could go wrong, but then again, so many things had already gone wrong.  
  
There was a stir from the door and it opened. There were two people at the door. One of them Bright Eyes recognized as Private Longbottom the other was the recognizable too. Bright Eyes recognized this person. The pointed nose, the pale skin, the white blonde hair. Bright Eyes would have known this person anywhere. It was Private Malfoy.  
  
"I am looking for a Private Grunting," said Private Malfoy.  
  
Bright Eyes sat up and said, "Who wants to know?"  
  
Private Malfoy smirked and said, "I do."  
  
Private Longbottom walked and put his bag down on the bed. He bumped into Malfoy as he passed. It seemed that Private Longbottom was not the same as he had been. He had lost a considerable amount of weight and looked a lot more ...secure. He was taller and dressed in an army uniform. His eyes were not scared but more weathered. As if he now had seen many things he would like to forget.  
  
Private Malfoy did not bother him as he bumped into him but just continued to talk to Bright Eyes, "Follow me. I am your contact. For the next few days you will travel with me until we meet up with our group. Get your things together, I'll be outside waiting."  
  
Private Longbottom approached Bright Eyes and said, "I'm your replacement here. Is this the bed I will sleep on or is it the top one."  
  
Bright eyes smirked, Private Longbottom had not referred to it as 'his bed' but rather as a bed he slept on, and replied, "Yes this is the bed but you may have the top bunk if you like, my bunkmate died."  
  
Private Longbottom looked at the top bunk, made the sign of the cross and said, "I'll take the top."  
  
He climbed onto the top bunk and said, "Give me that stuff will you?"  
  
Bright Eyes looked at his bags and said, "Wingardium Leviosa", and with a graceful flick of Bright Eyes' wand the bags went to Private Longbottom.  
  
No sooner had the spell been cast than Bright Eyes knew that a mistake had been made. Neville knew how Bright Eyes' style was and Bright Eyes was sure that Private Longbottom knew as well. Bright Eyes turned to leave but knew the damage had been done.  
  
Bright Eyes walked away but was cut off but a statement from Private Longbottom, "What's you hurry ...Hermione."  
  
Bright Eyes turned around and said, "What's your problem Private Longbottom? I don't know who your talking to."  
  
Private Longbottom smiled and said, "You bloody well do. Unrecoveryuptio!"  
  
Bright Eye's shape twisted and turned until it no longer represented the light-brown haired, chestnut eyed, average height wizard but to a bushy haired, deep chestnut eyed, very well fit, looking witch.  
  
Neville smirked and said, "Couldn't keep away could you Hermione."  
  
Hermione clutched her stomach and said, "Your going to get us caught."  
  
Neville smiled and said, "Worried about me now are you, Hermione?"  
  
Hermione stood up and said, "Not in the slightest. Now change me back."  
  
Neville sighed and said, "Hermione, part of me wants to scream at you and part of me wants to thank you. Fortunately, the army has taught me to keep my emotions to myself therefore I remain where I am."  
  
Hermione cast a warning glance back at him and said, "Do it now Neville or else."  
  
"Or else what Hermione," Neville said, "I won't tell on you I just want you to know."  
  
Hermione looked at him exasperated and said, "Well you see the group you are joining is very dangerous."  
  
Hermione cast a warning glare and said, "So. I've held my own down here for a while."  
  
Neville just smiled and came down from the top bunk enveloping Hermione in a hug saying, "Nice to see you Hermione. Ron will be thrilled"  
  
Hermione's mind went to rest as she heard Ron's name. She remembered how his skin felt on hers and how his breath on her neck made her come to life. She remembered the night and shuttered. She remembered everything and missed him even more.  
  
Neville let her go, took something out of his backpack, gave it to her, and said, "Here you are, Ron wanted me to get this to someone who could give this to you."  
  
Hermione muttered a, "Thanks Neville" and Neville transformed her back into 'Herman Grunting'. Bright Eyes bounded out the door and joined Private Malfoy. They still had a long way before they were out of the line of fire.  
  
Private Malfoy and Bright Eyes traveled in silence for a long time. Bright Eyes was stuck with him for three days. The first half-day was hard enough, neither of them talked to one another but only spoke when it was necessary. As night fell, however, it became increasing lonely. Bright Eyes knew they had to have some type of conversation.  
  
"So," Bright eyes said as they ate their supper by the campfire, "how are things out there? I haven't been out of that War Camp for a while."  
  
Private Malfoy leaned back and said running his hand through his white- blonde hair, "I wouldn't know, the only reason I got to come here is because I know this place better than anyone. This use to be my old village."  
  
Bright Eyes looked at him and said, "What do you mean by use to?"  
  
Private Malfoy looked into the darkness of the night sky and said, "This past year my home was destroyed. Death Eaters no doubt. My own father being one of them. They killed my mother and my father simply joined them in destroying the house. I still don't know why, all I have come to guess is that Voldemort told them to as some sort of sacrifice to keep him in good health."  
  
Bright Eyes looked down and said, "Sorry to bring it up."  
  
Private Malfoy shrugged and continued, "It's fine. You know the funny thing is that I planned on becoming a Death Eater like my father. Then I went to war camp planning to break out. It wasn't till a month after I had been here, did I realize where I was. Then I found my mother's grave and used a type of time charm to see what happened to her. After that I learned to hate Voldemort and devoted myself to the cause."  
  
Bright Eyes smiled and said, "You call him Voldemort."  
  
Private Malfoy replied, "There was a time when I called him master. Now I not only call him Voldemort, but also commend his soul to the depths of hell. You call him Voldemort too I notice."  
  
Bright Eyes smirked and said, "I do."  
  
Private Malfoy smirked back and said, "Why then? Even people at the War Camp call him He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named."  
  
Bright Eyes stared into the night and said, "I figure if I'm going to be fighting him I might as well not be afraid of him. I'd rather look him, straight in the eyes if he kills me than be on the ground begging for mercy."  
  
Private Malfoy looked at Bright Eyes and said, "There have only been four people to think like that, Dumbledore, Potter, Weasley, and Granger. They were my enemies at school. I treated them horribly. I regret some of the stuff I did, but not all of it."  
  
Bright Eyes looked at him with conviction and said, "So they still are around?"  
  
Private Malfoy looked back at Bright Eyes and said, "Well Dumbledore, I have no clue. For all the information we get from the outside world, we're just happy to know that there's still an outside world. Potter is at some other War Camp. They want to protect him so they put him at this need improvement center two months ago. Shame, he didn't need it. Weasley is one of my superiors. Funny as it may seem he is the best of all us. You might beat him though. He has a soft spot for Granger. Wears that damn Head Girl badge on his uniform. We don't know where Granger is. Everyone thought she'd get a job as some reporter or something safe like that, but we don't know where she got off to. Worries Weasley sick. Sits by the radio every night waiting for the list."  
  
So he misses her," Bright Eyes said.  
  
Private Malfoy smirked, "Misses is just wanting her to be there. Weasley needs her you could say. He dreams about her, and just stares at that badge sometimes wishing she was there. When Potter moved he was all alone. Of course, even Potter didn't make him feel any better. Sometimes I wish I had what he had."  
  
Bright eyes looked at him in shock and said, "You wish you had Granger?"  
  
Private Malfoy looked back at him and said, "No, I wish I had a love like that. Of course, my ex girlfriend Pansy and I got along fine, but when the war came she cried a bit and moved on. She now lives with some old man in his 30's. He keeps her safe, she gives him what he wants, but Granger and Weasley are different. If Granger wanted, she could have just about anyone, if not for her looks then for her talent. Weasley has talent too and he had always been the hero type at our old school, even Pansy had to admit that she though that he was somewhat of a ladies man and without even trying to be. However, they each have their flaws, Weasley isn't the best when it comes to money. Granger isn't the best when it comes to blood, but neither of them care. They love each other, even I can see that."  
  
Bright eyes felt the chain grow heavy. But not heavy in a bad way, more like a reminder that helped Bright Eyes get through the day. It reminded Bright Eyes that no matter how bad it got, someone loved Bright Eyes and it reminded Bright eyes that Hermione Granger loved someone who loved her back.  
  
Bright Eyes got up and started to put out the fire saying, "We better get to bed Private Malfoy, long day tomorrow."  
  
Private Malfoy helped him put out the fire and said, "Private Grunting".  
  
"Yes," Bright Eyes said.  
  
Private Malfoy gave him a vague smile and said, "Call me Draco."  
  
Bright Eyes smiled back and said, "Call me ...Herman."  
  
"Night Herman," Draco said as he went into his tent.  
  
"Night Draco," Bright Eyes said as Bright Eyes went into the tent.  
  
Bright Eyes walked into his tent and felt something in the pocket of the jacket. Bright Eyes took it out and smiled. Bright Eyes knew what it was. It was the letter from Ron. Bright Eyes looked over to the other tent to see the light go out. Bright Eyes took grabbed the wand and in a cloud of smoke transformed in Hermione Granger.  
  
Hermione ripped open the letter and saw the note within. Ron's handwriting was on it. Hermione had longed to see that writing from the day he left. She brought the paper up to her face and smelt it. It smelt like Ron. Hermione feverishly unfolded it and read:  
  
  
  
My Bright Eyes,  
  
It is my only hope that this gets to you. We aren't allowed to write letters here or communicate with the outside world so I am sorry you have had to wait. Please don't be mad at me for breaking the rules but I had to write you. Your memory has been one of the only things that have kept me together these past four months.  
  
I listen to the radio at our War Camp every night and pray that your name is not on the list. However, I wish I would here something from you. I wrote Ginny and her and my parents are fine. Mum is cracking up though. Since she has six boys in the war it's hard for her sometimes. None of us are lost yet but none of the real fighting has taken place.  
  
Ginny has not heard from you ever since the train-ride back. I have talked to everyone I can but n one knows where you have gone. This letter is my last hope. I am sending it with Neville. He is being transferred to another camp. I hope this reaches you. You don't know how hard it is to know that you are missing and I can't do a bloody thing about it.  
  
Please Hermione write me and tell me if you are OK. I want you to go and stay with my parents. They need help and maybe you being there will help Ginny. Obviously her and Harry were together at some point and we missed it. She misses him almost as much as I miss you.  
  
Please go and stay with my parents and if ...when I come back we'll go from there. I don't know where you are but please let me know you're OK. I think I'll go insane if I don't hear from you. I've seen many people lose loved ones. I don't think I could go on living if I lost you. I miss you with all my heart.  
  
You're my love, my life, my ...everything. I don't want you in the line of fire. I want you safe and waiting for me when I return. I love you my Bright Eyes. I'll find a way to you soon. Good-bye for now my Bright Eyes.  
  
Ron  
  
  
  
Hermione hugged the letter to her chest and took the ring out from her shirt. She looked at it and remembered the way it had always been between them before the war. They had always fought a lot about the silliest things, but when one of them was hurt the other would be there to tell them it was all right.  
  
Hermione rocked back and forth. She wanted to be with Ron and Ron wanted to be with her but this war was in the way. It seemed strange that it had taken them till the last day they could be together to tell one another.  
  
Hermione picked up her wand and transformed herself back into Herman Grunting and winced a bit. Transformation was getting harder with her condition but soon Ron would know and soon it would be all over. Soon she wouldn't have to be Herman Grunting anymore. When this was over she would be Ron's Bright Eyes forever.  
  
The next day was not as bad as the first had been. Bright Eyes thought it hard to think of Draco as anything but a stuck-up brat. However, something had changed about him. He was no longer arrogant and snobbish. He had developed humility to his personality and Bright Eyes was grateful for it.  
  
Bright Eyes saw how war had changed him. There was something in him that was more perceptible to people. His hair was no longer slicked back and oily but now hung in his face and was mostly clean except for the dirt from the ground where they slept. His steel gray eyes didn't have the look of arrogance that they once held but rather a look of weathering.  
  
War had done this to Draco. However, Draco wasn't the only one that this war had affected. Neville was totally different too. No longer the scared little boy but now grown. Bright Eyes realized that war changed everyone. That included Bright Eyes.  
  
Bright Eyes once walked with what was though an understanding of everything. A sense that Bright Eyes knew how things worked and how people were, but now things were different. Bright Eyes knew that there was more to everything than it seemed. Bright Eyes knew now how easy it was to make a mistake. War seemed to change everyone. Bright Eyes just hoped that it wouldn't change Ron.  
  
Another day went by and this was the third and final day of the trip to Bright Eyes' new War Camp. The journey had been long and physically as well as mentally trying, but the thought of being close to Ron and having completed her task gave her strength to make it through.  
  
Bright Eyes must have walked through at least 100 trenches in the past three days but it was all worth it when Bright Eyes saw the Camp. It wasn't anything special and looked the same as every other Camp they had been to but this camp held Ron and that made it different from every other camp Bright Eyes had been to.  
  
As Bright Eyes looked at it Draco came up behind him and said, "Let's in then, shall we Herman."  
  
"Right Draco," Bright Eyes replied.  
  
Bright eyes nodded and Draco signaled for the gates to open. As they did, Bright Eyes saw the same gray painted walls as in Bright Eyes' old War Camp. Draco confronted the guard and waved at Bright Eyes to walk through. The halls were dark and damp as in Bright Eyes' old War Camp.  
  
As they entered the bunks, Bright Eyes searched the bed trying to find the one that belonged to Ron. Draco saw Bright Eyes looking around and smirked. Perhaps thinking that he wanted to see the other soldiers outside or any other reason like that, but Bright Eyes knew that the time spent in War Camp would soon come to an end and the sooner Ron was found the sooner Bright Eyes' soul would be at rest.  
  
"Your bunks over here. After you put down your stuff see the officers over there," Draco said while pointing to a bunk.  
  
"Thanks, I'll see you in a bit. Don't have any fun without me OK mate," Herman said in a non-interested voice, still looking over the bunks.  
  
Draco smirked again and said while leaving, "OK, see you."  
  
Bright Eyes went over to the bunk Draco pointed to and placed the bag Bright Eyes carried on it. Bright Eyes looked around and saw a familiar hanging on one of the bottom bunk's top bunk bottom. Bright Eyes went over and saw three people on it, all of whom she recognized. That picture had been taken not too long after they had taken the N. E. W. T. 's.  
  
It depicted Ron, Harry, and Hermione outside by the lake at Hogwarts. All three of them had their arms around each other. Bright Eyes smiled and though back to that day. It had been so much fun. Ginny had insisted on them taking that picture, but it was not so much for memories, but just an excuse to use her new magic camera.  
  
The Ron in the picture laughed and tucked a piece of hair behind the picture Hermione's ear. The picture Hermione giggled and blushed. Bright Eyes wondered if it had been that obvious about liking Ron all the time. It certainly seemed it was in the picture. The picture Harry smirked and suppressed a laugh. Bright Eyes smiled remembering the event.  
  
"You there, what are you doing?" a voice sounded from behind Bright Eyes.  
  
Bright Eyes stood up at attention and said in a military voice not daring to look at the person, "Sir, just looking sir."  
  
The sir she was speaking to took the picture and tucked it back where it was saying, "Private Grunting, I hear you're good. Private Malfoy has said good things about you."  
  
Bright Eyes looked at the wall across the room and replied, "Sir thank you, sir."  
  
"At ease Private," said the sir and continued, "I am one of the junior leader. My name is Private Weasley. By the way that is my bunk you're sitting on and my girl you're looking at. I advise you not to look at that picture in the future."  
  
Bright Eyes dropped from attention and got a look at Private Weasley. He looked exactly like Bright Eyes remembered him but, like the rest, more weathered. He wore the same green gray uniform as everyone and still had the same red hair, which was easily his best feature compared to the draft uniform. His skin was sunburned and his shirt was drenched with sweat sticking to his lightly defined torso.  
  
This was Hermione's Ron.  
  
Bright Eyes' heart was pounding but Bright Eyes knew that this wasn't the time or the place for revelations to take place. It was too soon and Bright Eyes didn't want to transform right here. Instead Bright Eyes looked at Ron and weakly smiled behind his back. Resisting the urge to collapse in his arms.  
  
"So," Bright Eyes said, "that's your girl."  
  
Ron straightened the picture and said, "She's beautiful, smart, and all the above basically. Someday she'll be my wife."  
  
At this Ron's face relaxed and he stared at the picture staring at the picture Hermione who was smiling at the picture Ron, "So no ideas," he added after he was done looking at it.  
  
Ron looked at Bright Eyes almost daring him to try anything, but sighed and sat down on his bed. Bright Eyes sat beside him and watched as Ron picked on something attached to his uniform. Ron sighed to himself.  
  
"See this?" he said.  
  
Bright Eyes looked and saw a Head Girl Badge on his uniform and replied, "Yeah, I never knew you were so talented."  
  
Ron smirked and said, "Private Grunting may I remind you that I am a squad officer and that you don't know me."  
  
You may be surprised, Bright Eyes thought but said, "Sorry sir."  
  
Ron again scratched at the pin and said, "It belongs to her. Hermione's her name, beautiful isn't it? I was never good in school. She used to tutor me. Probably the only reason I passed, but I'll guarantee I've shaped up now. Anyway I've come here to escort you to the commanding officer's office."  
  
Bright Eyes watched as Ron got up and walked to the door and signaled for him to follow. Bright Eyes followed him through the gray halls and into another section of the camp. This War Camp was sure bigger than Bright Eyes' old one. After a few twists and turns they came to the officers offices and Ron stopped.  
  
He looked at Bright Eyes and said, "They will assign you to a team. I suspect you'll be in Private Malfoy's or mine. We're divided into four groups here and my group is the best or so I have been told. My name again is Private Weasley but you seem like a nice enough guy. Call me Ron."  
  
Bright Eyes looked at Ron and said, "My name is Private Grunting, but call me Herman or maybe ...Bright Eyes."  
  
Ron's eyes narrowed and Bright Eyes quickly said; "It's just a nickname. Ron, just call me Herman."  
  
Bright Eyes walked into the office and faced the officers. After an hour of testing Bright Eyes came out. He had made Ron's team. Bright Eyes knew that it would be hard to keep the act together but just a little longer and it would all be over. September 21st to be exact, their teams first mission, one week from today.  
  
That week passed slowly. Bright Eyes could hardly stand to be around Ron so Bright Eyes took advantage of the friendship developed with Draco. It seemed strange to hang around him, but he was different from Hogwarts. Even Ron tolerated him. On some occasions they were even caught having friendly conversations.  
  
Finally the day came. It had been hard to last a week but no it was time to act. The night before their first mission was it. Bright Eyes found Ron sitting outside the bunks looking into the stars.  
  
"Ron," Bright Eyes said quitely.  
  
"Herman," Ron answered.  
  
Herman shifter uncomfortably and handed him a letter before pulling out Hermione Granger's wand and stepping into the shadows. Ron opened the letter and read aloud:  
  
"Turn Around"  
  
Ron turned around and Hermione Granger stepped out of the shadows. Ron looked at her in disbelief. It took him a second to take in the sight before him. It was Hermione she was dressed in an army uniform and her hair was a mess. She was smiling at him and Ron was still shocked but soon enough he was holding her in a tight embrace.  
  
"How ...what ...who..." Ron stuttered.  
  
Hermione let a sob out and said, "Ron I missed you."  
  
"Hermione, god! Are you OK?" Ron asked holding her so tight Hermione though he would never let go.  
  
"Yes," Hermione said, "I'm fine but I need to tell you something first."  
  
Ron smiled and cupped Hermione's face in his hands saying, "What ever it is I'm sure it can wait. Right now we have to get you on the first car out of here. I don't know how you're here but it's not safe here on the front lines."  
  
Hermione smile faded and she said, "Ron sit down."  
  
Ron knew Hermione was serious and sat quietly and Hermione began, "I have been here under the alias of Herman Grunting. After you left I couldn't stand it and I followed. My mum and dad are practically dead and I felt so empty."  
  
She stopped, drew a shuttering breath, and continued, "Then a week ago I transferred. Neville found out about me and gave me the letter. Then I came here. Tomorrow we have our first mission and during that I'll escape. I'll go home after that, but you just had to know something first."  
  
"What is it?" Ron asked her now pressing her forehead against his.  
  
"I can't go back," Hermione cried.  
  
"Of course you can. Like my letter said. You can go home, to the Burrow. I've been so worried."  
  
"Ron …I can't." Hermione said as she began to cry.  
  
"Why not?" Ron asked, wiping her tears away with his thumb, "You can stay with Ginny, and mum and dad."  
  
"I can't," replied Hermione, "what would they think of me?"  
  
"Nothing," said Ron, "They'll be fine with you staying with them. I'll be happier just to know you're with them"  
  
"I can't because ...because..." Hermione sobbed into Ron's chest and finally regaining control forced herself to put her heart in the line of fire saying, "because I'm pregnant..."  
  
  
  
(A/N Well, do you like? Yes? No? The next part will be up soon because it's already written. I just need to edit it. Thanks for reading and PLEASE, PLEASE REVIEW and if you peeked, all I can say is tut, tut, tut, but still review me!)  
  
If the review thingy isn't working, e-mail me your review at aerabalais@petronet.net 


	4. The Power of Love

Chapter Three  
  
The Power of Love  
  
Ron stared at her, his skin turning a deadly pale color. He couldn't move, he couldn't speak, he couldn't even breathe. He and Hermione were having a baby. She was having his child. Both Hermione and their baby were in danger. She was having their baby. Mixed emotions of worry and elation ran though Ron. It was too much. Part of him was tearing at himself for letting something like this happen and part of him was so happy that the girl of his dreams since he was 15 was pregnant for him.  
  
Hermione was pregnant and it was all because of him.  
  
This was the worst thing that could happen and yet, in a way, also the best.  
  
This was all happening because he couldn't keep himself under control. It was all because he had decided to take advantage of Hermione. He had never meant for it to be like this. He had always pictured the day the finally admitted their feelings for each other to be heartfelt and carefree, but instead it ha been so bitter and yet, at the same time, sweet. It would be a lie to say that Ron regretted that night. For nothing else he had ever done had ever meant so much than that short time that he had been bound to Hermione in that way which transcended both space and time. For a brief moment he had been able to recall nothing besides the fact that he loved Hermione.  
  
"Oh god, Hermione. We're having a .baby," Ron said looking at her.  
  
Hermione then lost control and sobbed into Ron. He wasn't quite sure if her tears were joyful or sorrowfully shed. All Ron could do was hold her tight not trusting himself to speak. He wanted to be happy, but he couldn't. This was war and Hermione was in the middle of it. She and his unborn child were in the middle of a war zone, and it was all because of him.  
  
He had caused this. If he had never ...if he hadn't, ...but the fact was that he did and nothing could change that. Never in his life had Ron felt more confused. Never had he held such animosity for anyone as he held for himself at the moment, but then, at the same time, he held happiness. Ron closed his eyes and thought back to that fateful day that they had changed their destinies forever. Only now was he looking back to see just how much that decision had changed everything.  
  
It seemed ironic that the day everything fell apart, was the day that they admitted to loving each other. They had wasted so many precious years dancing around the truth that they cared more for each other than anything else that they had ever owned or ever knew. Then, they had to leave each other.  
  
Hermione had followed though. Ron didn't know what to do. Hermione had followed him out to War Camp. She had followed him onto the battlefield. All the time she had been carrying their child with her. Ron wanted to be this close to her all the time, but he also wanted Hermione to be safe, but now he not only had Hermione to worry about, but their child. He wanted to be with her every waking minute, but he wanted her to be away from this mess.  
  
He wanted to walk home from work and see her waiting for him in the kitchen helping him with his coat and asking him how his day had gone. That had always been his dream. The white picket fence, children playing in the yard. The biggest problems being when to schedule their family holiday. However, fate had other plans. Fate had torn them apart and Hermione had challenged fate only to find that fate always had the upper hand. Something was always going against them. Nothing could ever be perfect. Why?  
  
Ron hugged Hermione closer but careful not to hold her too tightly and said, "I'm sorry."  
  
Hermione looked up at him with red rimmed eyes and said, "For what?"  
  
Ron wiped her face and kissed her tears then said, "I did this to you. I never meant to. I just wasn't thinking. I took advantage of you. You weren't thinking clearly. I should have stopped. I should have been smarter."  
  
There was a moment of silence and then Ron hugged her again and said feverishly, "God I'm sorry Hermione. I didn't mean to ...I didn't think this would happen."  
  
Hermione looked up into his face and said, "I am as much to blame as you are. I was thinking clearly. I did want it as much, if not more, than you did. You did nothing wrong. You even tried to stop me. And if I remember correctly, and I know I do, it takes two."  
  
Ron smiled and said, "Yeah, I remember."  
  
Hermione looked up at him and couldn't help, but let out a small laugh. It seemed that Ron could always make her feel better in times like these. In times like these, Hermione never though that she would do things as reckless as getting pregnant and joining the army under a disguise. Even if it was all for the man she loved, she never thought it would be her, and here she was. It was her.  
  
Hermione leaned her head against Ron's shoulder and sighed, "What have we gotten ourselves into?" she said sadly.  
  
Ron looked out over the starry sky and sighed. The stars had always reminded him of is Bright Eyes. The stars had gleamed so brightly only those lonely nights and helped him think of her. He had sat outside and though that just maybe his Bright Eyes had been looking at the stars too. The stars had been his Bright Eyes for a while, but now looking at his one, true Bright Eyes, the stars did not compare.  
  
Ron took his thumb and wiped away a tear on her cheek trailing it to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. Hermione savored the feel of his skin on hers. His hands had once felt soft and smooth but were now rough and callused.  
  
It had only been four months since he had left. Four months ago they had been just friends and look at them now. Holding each other, trying to savor what they had today and only pray that tomorrow it wasn't gone. Praying that this would be over, but they both knew there was no hope for it to be over.  
  
Why couldn't fate leave well enough alone? Why did fate have to play this horrid card on Hermione and Ron? Why did fate want to tear them apart when it should be together? Why was fate so cruel and so uncaring?  
  
Ron kissed Hermione's forehead and quietly answered, "I don't know my Bright Eyes, but whatever it is we'll face it together. Midnight cravings and all."  
  
Hermione nestled her head into the crook of Ron's neck. He was all the love she need right now, but the darkness was closing in around them their world was falling apart just as everything seemed to be falling into place for the two star-crossed lovers. Would love be enough? Love was really all they had and nothing could take that away from them. Hermione now carried a sign of it. Their love would never die, even if one of them did.  
  
They sat in silence under the stars outside the bunks. Words could not express what they were feeling right now. Sadness, happiness, anger, remorse, denial, acceptance all coursed through them at once. Words were not enough, but were words ever really enough. Whenever they were enough, they were not right now. The lovers and their unborn child sat under the stars too fearful to move from each other's arms, but too brave to leave the other alone.  
  
They hardly noticed a fourth part hiding in the bushes nearby. For neither a friend nor a foe had he ever been so transfixed on the events that took place before him. He crept through the bushes and back into the bunks and let the lovers alone. He had put them through enough in the time he knew them, but maybe this time he could help. Maybe there was a way to make-up for all he had done. Maybe, just maybe, he could help.  
  
Neither Ron or Hermione knew how long they stayed out there that night, nor did they care. Tomorrow Hermione would make her escape and there was a good chance that tomorrow one or both of them could die.  
  
Hermione changed back into Herman Grunting, but not with much ease. She winced at the pain. Hermione had never noticed that it hurt this much before, but then again before she had not been receptive to anything but the hope that her and Ron would meet soon. After the transfiguration was complete Ron ran to her.  
  
Hermione, now in the form of Herman Grunting, put her hand up and said, "No Ron. We can't it wouldn't look right."  
  
Ron helped her up anyway and said, "Hermione this transfiguration is hurting both you and the baby. Can't you just apperate away from here now, or we could go tell the general that you stumbled onto our camp and they could send you home."  
  
Hermione pushed on back and said, "Ron I have to go with the plan. I can't just waltz up to the general and say that I 'accidentally' wandered into a high security War Camp put in the middle of nowhere for the very purpose that it would be very hard to find. Plus, then the disappearance of Herman Grunting would make people suspicious. They're not stupid Ron. They will put two and two together."  
  
Ron looked down at her and said, "I just don't want you taking any chances, both of you."  
  
Hermione smiled back at him and said, "Ron our relationship is just one big chance. We've faced worse odds before. I'm not a little girl anymore. I can handle myself. I'll get out of this just fine, all three of us will."  
  
Ron gave her a worried look and said, "But ...well it's just risky and if you get hurt the baby will be hurt and it'll be all my fault and..."  
  
"And if I stay here I'm in more danger," Hermione finished for him.  
  
Ron wanted to argue with her. He yearned to argue with Hermione like he used to. Then, maybe it would be like the old days. However, Hermione was right. The longer she was in the line of fire, the longer she was in danger, but still it would be hard and dangerous for her to escape if they stayed with the plan. However, it was the only way that Herman Grunting could disappear without anybody knowing who Private Grunting really had been.  
  
Ron bowed his head and said, "Just ...just be careful. You're my Bright Eyes I don't want anything to happen to you."  
  
Hermione smiled and replied, "Nothing will happen to me as long as you are in my heart."  
  
Hermione then turned around and walked back to the bunks. All was quiet and no one was awake. A few moments later she heard Ron's footsteps enter the room. Hermione heard him settle into his bed and longed to be with him but knew that it would give her away if she went over there for a moment.  
  
Hermione rolled over and felt the first pang of nervousness about tomorrow come. Ron was right this was dangerous and they both could very well die but Hermione knew if she didn't go she would be in more danger. Hermione really didn't have a choice, it was now or never.  
  
A sudden sensation came over her. She felt as if she was no longer in control of her own destiny like it had been already written and she was just acting it out. Hermione shifted, but she couldn't get comfortable. Ron was two bunks over, only two bunks. But two bunks were a barrier that she couldn't break.  
  
All that night Hermione didn't sleep. She didn't know if it was the transfiguration bothering her or the fact that she was about to do something highly dangerous or just maybe it was like this when you were pregnant, but she just didn't sleep that night. Suddenly the wake up call sounded and they all woke up and got dressed in their uniforms.  
  
Today was the day of their first mission. They were going to a place rumored to be inhabited by Death Eaters. There were plenty caves in that area, and it wasn't too far from the nearest wizarding village. Hermione could fake Herman Grunting's death and escape to the village.  
  
After that Hermione didn't know what to do. She couldn't very well go to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley's house. What would they say? But what choice did she have? Ron had insisted on her going even though Hermione knew that they would be disappointed in her, she had no other family and she was pregnant with their first grandchild. They couldn't forsake her.  
  
Ron promised her that he would marry her when he got home. He hated the idea that their child would be born and they wouldn't be married, but what choice did they have. They had already decided that Ginny would be the godmother and Harry would be the godfather. They could help them.  
  
However, these good thoughts Hermione was having were destroyed when the general gave his pre-fight speech to them. In Hermione's opinion it was quite depressing, but then again so were the chances of survival.  
  
"Soldiers," the general said in his best brave voice, "today you go into war. There are chances that in an hour the person standing next to you will be dead."  
  
Hermione glanced at the person next to her who happened to be Ron. She fought back tears. Ron will not die, Ron will not die, she told herself as a moral booster. Ron looked at her and gave her hand a squeeze while no one was looking. Hermione smiled and returned it.  
  
"So," the general continued, "you must fight your best and try to survive the best you know how."  
  
The general paused at this and continued, "He-who ...Voldemort had taken the lives of many soldiers. But even more repulsive, he has taken the lives innocent woman and children. Voldemort may be strong, but if we all try hard enough we can win the fight. You are fighting for all that lost the battle. You are fighting for your loved ones. You are fighting for everyone."  
  
The general paused again and bowed his head, "I never though I'd see the day when Voldemort would return but I have. I though we got him the first time but he made a come back. Prevent him from making another one. Remember we may not win this battle but we will win this war. I have watched you all train for this and you are ready. Fight for all those young women and children whose lives were taken. Fight for their dreams that were never accomplished. Fight for the young soldiers' lives that died in the hope that one day, someone would conquer this. If you don't fight for yourself, fight for them."  
  
With this the general stepped down off of the small podium in front the four groups. The general went to the other officer and saluted each of the, then he turned to the soldiers before him.  
  
"I salute you," he said.  
  
After that they were rallied into the groups. Draco and Ron's teams were joined together. The officers put them in these turntable machines and as a soldier walked through he was equipped with camouflage clothing, helmets and even some muggle weapons for emergencies.  
  
Hermione, however, banished all of Herman Grunting's things and took care of his bed leaving no trace of who he was. As Hermione left she saw something on Ron's bed that caught her eye. It was her prefect badge. He had forgot to pin it on this morning. Hermione took it and put it in her pocket, taking one last look at the bunks before she knew she would never see them again.  
  
Hermione softly chuckled to herself and placed a hand on her stomach saying, "I'll have some really good stories to tell you one day."  
  
With that Herman Grunting left the bunks of War Camp 8732910 never to return. Herman's footsteps echoed down the empty hall as he opened the door and went out, not even looking back.  
  
It only took a matter of time before they were at the site. All was clear for a while, but then Death Eaters came out from every direction. Hermione was terrified. She pulled herself and Ron into a nearby cave.  
  
Hermione took out her wand and transformed back into herself. It hurt for a moment but Ron helped her up. Then something fell out of her pocket. It was the Head Girl Badge. Hermione bent picked it up and Ron stared at her.  
  
Hermione kissed the badge and then said, "While I'm gone and we're apart my love for you will be right here."  
  
Hermione pinned the badge on the inside of his jacket over his heart. Ron smiled back at her and pulled her chain off taking the ring off of it. He kissed the ring and put it on her finger.  
  
"And my love will be right here and here" her said placing a hand on her stomach. Ron gave her a gentle kiss. Then from the corner came a coughing sound. Hermione looked over and saw Draco standing in the corner.  
  
"Are you ready to go Hermione?" he asked.  
  
Hermione stood rooted to the spot and Ron said, "What are you doing here?"  
  
Draco smiled and said, "I think you need a tour guide to the next village. I can get you there. Consider it pay back for me being such an asshole to you."  
  
Hermione stood and said, "How long have you known?"  
  
Draco casually answered, "I've had my suspicions since I met you but yesterday you were in the garden I was in the bushes when you changed. Scared the crap out of me." Ron turned to Draco and said, "If you so dare lay a finger on her I swear I will..."  
  
Draco sighed and said, "I know, I know but I just want to get out of here too. Have some scores to settle with old 'friends'."  
  
Hermione nodded at Ron who said, "All right."  
  
There was a scram outside. Hermione gave Ron one last final kiss and he ran back out. Draco took Hermione by the wrists and said, "we don't have much time this tunnel will lead strait into town."  
  
Hermione followed him and said, "Thank you."  
  
Draco smiled and said, "Yeah, well don't get use to it."  
  
Later that day they arrived in the local Wizarding village. There Hermione and Draco said their good byes. Draco walked off. It was raining outside. It was only a light rain, but the rain had already soaked Draco's army uniform. Somehow he looked older and lost.  
  
"Draco," Hermione called out, "where are you going?"  
  
Draco slowly turned around and said, "I don't know. But one thing I do know is that my mother won't have died in vain. I will avenge her death or die trying."  
  
Hermione nodded and said, "Then I suggest that you go to Dumbledore. I know that the order must be busy at this time. They could always use people."  
  
Draco vaguely smiled and replied, "I'll keep that in mind."  
  
Draco turned around and contiuned to walk into the depths of the rain. Hermione stood and watched until she could no longer see Draco or hear his footsteps against the wet ground. She wondered where he was going, but did not ask. Hermione had her own demons to face. Slowly she stuck out her wand and the night bus came to a stop in front of her.  
  
After a few more hours on the bus, Hermione arrived to the doorsteps of the Burrow. It was harder raining and she was soaked from just being in the rain for the few seconds that it took to reached the homey door of the Burrow. To Hermione, it felt like a death walk, but she knew this is what she had to do. Hermione rang the doorbell and Ginny answered.  
  
Ginny looked at her and said, "Hermione!"  
  
Hermione walked in just as Mr. and Ms. Weasley came from the kitchen.  
  
"There is something I need to tell you."  
  
*****Two months later*****  
  
The doorbell rang. Hermione got up to answer it trying not to hurt her back too much. She had been living at the Wesley's for over two months now, it had been hard but Mr. and Ms. Weasley had taken her in. She now stayed with them and was taken care of by Ginny. Mrs. Weasley was actually thankful that Hermione was pregnant sometimes.  
  
She knitted baby clothes for the baby and discussed baby names with Hermione and Ginny in her free time. They even went shopping for maternity clothes once. It kept her mind off her boys so Hermione didn't mind in the least.  
  
Mr. Weasley was just as bad. He had already set up a baby room. Hermione would spend hours in that room rocking back and forth in her rocking chair humming a lullaby and thinking about Ron.  
  
She hadn't seen him since the day she escaped. Herman Grunting as well as Draco Malfoy had been reported 'dead' soon after the fight was over. Besides that no one else had died. And although Ron had a good team, Hermione was worried all the time.  
  
She would listen to the Wizarding Wireless day and night for the latest announcements. Ginny was hurting just as bad as Hermione was. Harry wasn't going anywhere, but Ginny still worried. After all, was he not the cause of Voldemort last defeat? The good news as that Bill had been transferred to the ministry. Hermione was glad because it was one less son for the Weasley's to worry about.  
  
Of course, Hermione was now a Weasley too. Even though she and Ron were technically not married. If anyone asked she was Hermione Weasley. She liked the name. She wore her ring all the time now and never took it off. It helped her get through the day.  
  
Hermione sighed and straightened her blue checkered maternity top. She got up with a little help from Ginny and opened the door. A man dressed in black stood at it. His red hair sticking out from under his black hat.  
  
"Bill," Hermione said giving him an one-armed hug.  
  
"Hello Hermione," Bill said in a melancholy voice.  
  
Hermione let Bill in and he solemnly waked into the living room.  
  
Ginny jumped up and yelled, "Bill's here mum, dad."  
  
Ginny smiled and jumped up also giving Bill a hug. When Ginny backed away Hermione saw his eyes were red rimmed. Hermione went over to Bill and looked at him intently.  
  
"What's wrong?" she sad quietly as Mr. and Mrs. Weasley came into the living room.  
  
Bill backed away and said, "Please sit down Mum, Dad, Gin, ...Hermione."  
  
All of them did and Bill began, "I was at the Ministry this morning and I got this letter. They told me to bring it to my family."  
  
He handed the letter to Ms and Mr. Weasley as they read Ms. Weasley covered her mouth and began to cry. She hid her face on Mr. Weasley. Heput his head down and took his wifes hand, griping it hard. Ginny was next, she did the same as her mother. Hermione was afraid of what it would say. She picked it up and read:  
  
  
  
Dear Mr. and Ms. Weasley and family  
  
It is our sad duty to inform you that Private Ronald Weasley died yesterday in a battle. An Avada Kedavara hit him in the heart. He suffered no pain and was killed instantly. You will receive his belongings the day after tomorrow.  
  
Our condolences to you and your family,  
  
Sergeant Jack Mabry  
  
Head of the Department of War Britain Ministry of Magic  
  
  
  
Hermione's hand covered her mouth. She sat in shock for a moment trying to soak in what she had just read. Her body started to tremble and her eyes started to cry. All the moments she shared with Ron came into her head. His face, his eyes were vivid. Him laughing, him consoling her, even him making love to her. Hermione began to cry. She felt the baby kick in her stomach and she screamed.  
  
He was gone.  
  
Ron was dead.  
  
Hermione spent the next day in Ron's room. She lay on his old bed and cried. It was all she could do. Hermione wanted to die but something inside her kept her alive. Maybe it was Ron's baby in her stomach. Hermione didn't know but she cursed what ever it was for no letting her be with Ron.  
  
She heard the doorbell ring. That must be Ron's stuff coming. Hermione made no move to go down stairs. Instead she lay lifeless on the bed. She had no more tears. She curled up and hugged Ron's pillow tightly.  
  
It smelled like him.  
  
Why did it have to smell like him?  
  
Hermione heard a cry from downstairs. She closed her eyes tightly and tried to block it out. Mrs. Weasley or Ginny must have gotten Ron's stuff. There were footsteps coming up the stairs. The door opened and creaked, sending light into the dark room. The footsteps of a stranger entered into Hermione's fortress. Hermione bit her lip. There was no point in trying to make her come out.  
  
To what?  
  
To see the last possessions of the late Ron Weasley? The one and only person meant for Hermione. The one who's remains lie on some deserted battlefield unmarked, unclaimed, un-mourned over. Was Hermione to go to see the last possessions of her soul mate, the father of her unborn child, the one and only person who could make her feel happiness ever again?  
  
The one person that was denied from Hermione and the only person she would ever want.  
  
Her soul mate.  
  
"Go away!" Hermione said bitterly at the unknown intruder.  
  
There was a pause and then someone said, "Well if that's the way you feel."  
  
Hermione sat blot upright and looked around for owner of the voice. Dear god it can't be, Hermione thought as her eyes fell on a familiar figure. It was. it was. dear god it couldn't be. However, it was. It was...  
  
...Ron.  
  
"Hi'ya Bright Eyes," he said.  
  
Hermione ran to him and threw her arms around him. Suddenly a fresh wave of tears made it's way onto Hermione face. Ron held her tightly around the waist and rocked her gently back and forth. Hermione never knew how long she stayed there and she found that she didn't care.  
  
"But how?" Hermione finally managed to get out through her uncontrollable sobs.  
  
Ron wiped her tears with his thumb and slowly brought it to tuck a stray piece of hair behind her ear. She held his hand to her face and savored the touch. If this was a dream, it sure felt real and she never wanted it to end.  
  
Ron searched for something in his pocket and pulled out what looked to be like a Head Girl Badge. Hermione could see that it was scratched and very worn. It looked as if it had seen many battles. In the middle of the badge was another mark and this one more pronounced and strange than the rest. It cut through the words "Head Girl". It was the same scar that Hermione had seen many times on the forehead of one of her best friends.  
  
It was in the shape a lightning bolt.  
  
"Remember, you told me to keep it over my heart. Well, I did. The curse bounced off of it and only knocked me out."  
  
Ron cupped Hermione's face and continued saying, "By all means it should have gone through this and killed me, but it didn't. Doctor's are still baffled. I think they finally came up with some crazy reflection theory to cover up the fact that it seems impossible, but I know why it didn't kill me."  
  
"Why is that?" Hermione asked in a voice no louder than a whisper.  
  
Ron smiled and said quietly to her, "Because right above the badge itself is a spell you cast over me. It's kind of magic that isn't cast by a wand. That magic is your love for me and mine for you."  
  
Ron stopped and kissed away a tear that ran down Hermione's cheek. However, this tear was different than the tears shed only a minute ago. This was a tear of happiness. "The power of your love saved me, Hermione, and it's always been there. When we fought the troll, it was there. When you were petrified, it was there. When Draco insulted you, it was there. When we fought over stupid things, it was there. When I let you win at chess, it was there. When Krum made me so jealous that I broke my Krum figurine into pieces, it was there. When anyone broke your heart, it was there. When anyone broke my heart, it was there. When either of us denied it, it was there. When your parents were attacked and I hurt as much as you did, it was there. When I was away to War Camp, it was there. When I got attacked, it was in my heart, and it will always be there."  
  
Hermione dissolved in tears. Ron held her close and let her cry. As she cried she felt something between them. He was right, it had always been there, and from the first day she met him on the train. All the fights they had covered it up, but it would always be, forevermore.  
  
In the end she had always loved Ron and Ron had always loved her. Maybe at the time they hadn't shown it, but it was there waiting for the right time to come out and in the last moment where Ron would have died it came through to save him. The power of love saved Ron. The power of love for him and his unborn child had helped him make it through.  
  
Hermione looked up into Ron's blue eyes and said, "I love you."  
  
Ron looked back at her and said, "I love you too, my Bright Eyes."  
  
To be continued.  
  
(A/N Well, I know that nothing is suppose to be able to block he Avada Kedavra curse but if you read it, the badge didn't stop the curse, it just deflected it. So, I guess that's just bending the rules, not breaking them. That just bothered me so I had to tell you so you don't think that I just totally demolished one of the major rules of the books. And remember, review, review, review! Flames excepted!) 


	5. Dare to Dream

OK, sorry I forgot the "thank you's" on the last chapter but here they are now  
  
Fist of all, I owe a huge amount of thanks to my Beta Reader B4zooka Jules! She put up with a whole load of typos and helped out so much with my writing! So now all of you don't have to put up with my grammar anymore! Thanks Jules, you're the best!  
  
Next is to all of my reviewers:  
  
To  
  
ButtaFlyXBabyXWitXHeartX06 (I'm glad that you knew it! I was hoping someone would figure it out),  
  
Herbie Werbie (I'm glad you liked it! I was worried about the pregnancy bit.),  
  
and Madison (Thank you! I try to make my work as original as possible without being too mushy. I hope I did OK and I'm glad you''re likeing how this turning out!)  
  
who have reviewed me more than anyone! Thanks for keeping up with my fic!  
  
Also thanks to:  
  
sgrquill (I saw your name on my review and go "NO WAY, she like my favorite author!" I still can't believe you reviewed me and by the way I love that movie The Cutting Edge! Especially the "toe-pic" part! I can't wait to read that part! What will it be? "Broom-brakes"?)  
  
Molly (Thank you for the complement! It meant a lot!)  
  
Julie (I was reviewed by two Julie's on chapters three and four, but I'm pretty sure that it was the same person. However, if there are indeed two different Julie's, then I apologize. And do you really think my writing is good enough for a career!?! Thank you! I'm really glad that you like my work!)  
  
BeaterWeasleyGRL (thanks for all the name suggestions. I might use them later, but the part of the story concerning the baby is already written. Thanks though. I will probably use them at some point.)  
  
B4zooka Jules (who is also my wonderful beta reader and official idea inspirer since my muse had decided to be on vacation and will not answer my frantic calls of help)  
  
Starfly (thank you for the wonderful complement! I'm glad you think so!)  
  
Chapter Four Dare to Dream  
  
Ron was home.  
  
That was the only thing that Hermione needed, And now he had come home Hermione thought that he had been dead, but she had saved him. Or rather, her Head Girl badge had saved him. Hermione hadn't even known he had had it until that day in the bunks when she saw it.  
  
Hermione didn't want to move or speak. All night had been spent looking into Ron's eyes and him looking into hers. There was so much in those eyes now. So much that just six months ago there had not been. Just two months ago there had not been that much, but in those past two months much fighting had reached those eyes.  
  
Hermione remembered that his eyes used to be a piercing blue. Ever since she had known him the color had projected itself out. Maybe it had been his red hair, or maybe it had been his pale complexion, but whatever the case, his eyes had always shown out. Eyes that were always holding some sort of joke that only he could understand. Eyes that were continually laughing and carefree.  
  
However, now his eyes were tainted. The piercing blue had turned to a stormy gray. The once clear eyes were clouded with worry and misery, a misery that was self-inflicted. When Ron had looked at her tonight, there had been too much in those eyes to take in. The joy at seeing her had been apparent, the worry for her safety had been there too, but there had been something else. There had been some sort of torturing and hurting. Ron managed to hide it well, but never from Hermione. Worst part was that not even she could take away the hurt.  
  
Hermione wanted to take away the hurt in his eyes, but she found that not even she could do that. His eyes held a lot of pain. Every time Hermione looked into Ron's smiling face she still saw some pain behind the smile.  
  
Hermione reached her hand and touched Ron's hair. His hair was still as long as it had always been but it was darker and his skin was rougher than it had been before. The war had worn him thin. It was due to the grace of god that he didn't have to go back.  
  
Obviously, the Ministry had seen what he had had to go through during the war, but they didn't know the half of it. They hadn't seen how Ron had endured knowing that his to-be-wife, who was pregnant with his child, was on Voldemort's most wanted list. Being friends with Harry had put them there and even though they loved Harry as their brother Ron, for one, thought that this should not involve him or Hermione. It was selfish, but it wasn't fair.  
  
Harry was now at some war camp with guards protecting him at every turn. He sometimes snuck Ginny a letter. In every letter he told her he was all right and asked how she was. It was funny that they had secretly been dating all that year.  
  
When they were on the train to war camp he had told Ron everything. It tore Ron's heart out for Harry to tell him the things that they had done, but Harry felt it necessary for Ron to know how he felt about Ginny. True, they weren't as bad as the things he had done with Hermione but still they had kept something from their best friends. It had hurt that Harry and Ginny had never told them.  
  
What had happened between Ron and Hermione had been years of hidden desire built up and a few moments of insanity. However Ginny and Harry had kept it from their other best friends for a whole year. They had gone as far to meeting in secret and making excuses just to be together.  
  
Ron and Hermione both felt hurt by this. They had been their best friends. They didn't feel they had deserved that. Hermione thought that Ron would have taken it badly but that was no reason to keep it from them. Harry did love Ginny, he told her so in every letter.  
  
Hermione and Ron hadn't known the risks when they became friends with Harry, but Ginny had and she had still chosen to accept. Ginny had known all about what was happening and she didn't turn away. Hermione remembered what Ginny had told her about him.  
  
"He tells me that I should forget him," Ginny had said while she looked through the rack filled with maternity and baby clothes, "but I couldn't even if I wanted to. I know that Voldemort is after him, but I don't care. I love him, Hermione and that's all that matters to me. I love him and he loves me. I could care less what he looks like, how famous he is, or how he puts me in danger. I love him. That's all that matters. Now pink or blue?"  
  
That was the first time that Hermione truly believed that Ginny loved Harry. It had been that last sentence, I love him and that's all that matters, unconditional love. It was the way she loved Ron and the way that she already loved their child. Hermione found that no matter how much Ron annoyed her or how much her son or daughter might drive her insane, she would still love them with all her heart.  
  
Hermione was tired now. Even though she had spent all the night lying in her bed with Ron by her side talking and remembering things, she was tired. Tired even though she had been in Ron's old room for one day crying it seemed that she had not truly slept in days. It wasn't so much being physically tired but more emotionally tired. Her emotions were drained from her body with all the recent news. Hermione was not tired of body, but more mind.  
  
Hermione withdrew her hand from Ron's face and watched him sleep. He muttered something and Hermione drew herself near. It was enough to be close to him, to know that he was alive and well.  
  
She slowly bent her mouth to his ear and whispered, "It's OK. I'm here."  
  
Hermione put her head back on the pillow and took his hands in hers. She kissed them and watched Ron sleep. However, Hermione was very tired, and soon she herself was asleep. For the moment Hermione had everything she wanted and in those last moments of consciousness before she closed her eyes, Ron was all she saw.  
  
The next day there was a mixture of emotions going around. Whenever Mrs. Weasley saw Ron she would either do one of two things: Hug him and start crying, or lecture him about Hermione before hugging him and starting to cry. Needless to say the family didn't blame Hermione for her condition but rather Ron.  
  
Ginny had reacted better than Mrs. Weasley. She would simply smile and say some kind of glad to have you back, although her eyes did tear up a bit. Mr. Weasley wasn't as open with his emotions as the girls were but would give Ron a manly hug and say he was glad that he was back.  
  
Hermione never left Ron's side; wherever he was she was. Ron never wanted to let go of her again and the thought of letting go of Ron mentally hurt Hermione. She wanted to wake up by him ever morning. She wanted every day to be this good.  
  
Owls were sent to all Ron brothers. All of them were very glad Ron was back, but the fact that the war still raged on held heavy on them. Many had been killed that day Ron almost died. However, the Weasley family still was in good graces. No one that they had known was dead, yet.  
  
As the days passed on Hermione began to think about her and Ron's marriage. She really didn't want her children to see her pregnant in her wedding pictures but she wanted to be married when she had her baby. Transfiguration was an option but that was painful and highly dangerous when you were six months pregnant.  
  
It wasn't like she didn't want to look bad in her wedding pictures, (even though she really wanted to look good) but nobody would be able to come to her wedding either. All her old school friends were either at war or in hiding; even the Weasley's had made their house unplottable and, with the help of Bill, made it impossible to apparate onto their property.  
  
Hermione wanted to wait till after the war, but in only three months her baby would be born and it would only be by some miracle that the war would end that soon. Then, there was the fact of the baby itself. If people knew about the baby it too would become a target.  
  
Few knew about Ron and Hermione being together since all had happened on that night in early June and what was better was that most still thought Ron to be dead. The Weasley family had received many sympathy letters over the past few days and they had decided to take advantage of everyone thinking that Ron was dead.  
  
Mrs. Weasley had written back that she accepted their condolences and was very shaken by the 'death' of her son. She did, however, conveniently forget to mention the part about him not actually being dead.  
  
So it had been with hard acceptance that Hermione and Ron would not be married when their baby was born. They would marry after the war. Ron hated it just as much as Hermione but they had no choice. For everyone to stay protected they must keep in hiding, even if it meant sacrificing a symbol of their love for a while.  
  
For Hermione things were going good but what goes up always comes down. Wherever there is light there is darkness, and the stronger the light the deeper the darkness. As Voldemort's Death Eater's strengthened, the Ministry's troops only weakened. Even the order was struggling.  
  
Harry had still not gone into battle, but the fighting grew nearer and nearer to him. Harry knew that he was the one that Voldemort was after and he was the cause of many innocent deaths. Harry was the noble one and never would sacrifice something if he could help it.  
  
After Cedric's death he had felt responsible and ever since then he had worked to prevent anyone or anything from dying at his expense. Voldemort was after Harry and as much as anyone would want to deny it, it was true. No one had ever stopped Voldemort before, except for Lily Potter, and Lily Potter gave her life in the process.  
  
"Curse them," cried Ginny as she sat at the breakfast table.  
  
"curse who?" Mrs. Weasley asked.  
  
"The Death Eater's mum, who else. They have broken another barrier on their way to Harry's war camp. Voldemort knows that he's there," Ginny said.  
  
"Gin, they don't know that Harry's there and don't say the name, dear" said Mrs. Weasley.  
  
Ron put doesn't his glass on the table and said, "Mum, they know where Harry is. Why else would they travel in one direction for three months? And mum, when are you going to get over it. Just say it, Vol-de-mort. It's not that hard."  
  
Mrs. Weasley gave Ron an incredulous look and Hermione said, "They do have a point, but there are six different war camps in that area. Harry's is hidden, too. I don't think that You-Know-Who knows exactly where Harry is. By the time he figures it out, they'll have caught him."  
  
Ron smirked at her and said, "That's my Bright Eyes. Always the optimist."  
  
Hermione blushed and got up from the table. She needed some air. Very few times was she able to go outside these days. If it wasn't the though **/thought** that someone would see her, it was the risk that someone would hurt her. Just yesterday the Patil sisters had come by to console the family. They were nurses now, as most of the girls had done once graduated from Hogwarts. Nurses had very little time that they weren't busy at St. Mungo's, but in between battles they were permitted visits to friends.  
  
Thank Merlin Hermione and Ron had been upstairs when they arrived. It was a wonder that they didn't already know about Ron being alive since they worked at the hospital, but it just went to show exactly how much the ministry kept quiet these days. If either of them had seen Hermione or Ron then their whole plan would have given away, as one of the Patil sisters' traits was their big mouths. Ginny had 'rushed upstairs in tears' one or more times to check on them and try to 'persuade' Hermione to come down and say hello.  
  
Unfortunately, Hermione had been in 'floods of tears' for the past few days and was indisposed. It had been a close call and the sisters had wanted to stay all day but Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had suddenly received an owl from the Ministry and their guests had to leave immediately.  
  
Parvati had kept going on about a new law that was to be installed very soon. Something about all no married persons being allowed to stay in the war zones or something but they all knew that she had really come to see Dean.  
  
Before the war they had been together. Parvati had really never been one to settle down, she spent most of her fifth and sixth year at Hogwarts 'testing' out ever guy. Hermione remembered that there must have been a new guy very week. Once in fifth year, she even dated Ron, but that had all been before Dean.  
  
Dean had been the one to turn her around. At the beginning of seventh year they had started to date and even from that time Hermione had known that this time, it was different. Usually after a "meeting" (since you couldn't really go out on a date a Hogwarts, you "met". It was usually just another name for a picnic dinner and a snog session on some secluded part of the grounds) Parvati would come back. Gab to Lavender about how wonderful/horrible time she had, make a prediction on how long this one would last, take a hot shower, and go to bed.  
  
However this time had been different. Hermione didn't even think that Lavender knew exactly what happened on that night because when Parvati returned, she softly closed the door behind her and sighed before going straight to bed. From what Hermione knew, she didn't even change into nightclothes. Lavender had thought her ill.  
  
But Hermione knew that Parvati suffered no affliction of any kind except maybe the thought that it took her so long to find Mr. Right. Hermione knew for a fact that Parvati didn't get any sleep that night because she too had thought a lot about herself and Ron that night, wondering if he would ever walk in he dorm like that as she listened to the silence of the night instead of Parvati's usual light snoring.  
  
Hermione breathed in the morning air. It smelled so good and it was moist with freshly fallen dew. Hermione ran her hand across her stomach. She wasn't nearly as big as her aunt had gotten when she had been pregnant with her cousin.  
  
Hermione bowed her head. She missed the Muggle world. She missed all her aunts and uncles. All of them thought that Hermione was dead. They all thought that her parents were dead too.  
  
Even though Mrs. and Mr. Granger were not dead, but from the state they were in they might as well have been. They didn't even know who Hermione was. They shared a room with the Longbottoms at St. Mungo's. They lived from day to day not ever remembering what happened the day before. It broke Hermione's heart to go and see them but even if she wanted to, now she couldn't.  
  
Hermione wanted to find a cure for the amnesia they suffered but that would mean she would have to study abroad and see similar victims of the curse. Hermione would love nothing more than to study all over the world but she couldn't. She had already sealed her fate.  
  
She had been the smartest witch in her year, Head Girl, and had stood up for many causes in her day, but that had been before she had gotten mixed up with all this. That had been before the war had been announced and she had gotten herself pregnant. Not that she was sorry for any of it, because she knew that she couldn't love her child more even though he or she wasn't born yet. She couldn't have loved Ron more either, but still.  
  
Hermione wanted to travel the world. She wanted to see all the great cities of ancient times. She wanted to find the lost continent of Atlantis (which had actually already been found). She wanted to study in Egypt, paint in Italy, hike up the highest mountain and show the world that she could do anything she set her mind to. Only problem was, she couldn't now.  
  
She had shown so much promise in school but look at her now. She would never amount to anything more than a housewife. Hermione though of what her parents would think. Getting pregnant at seventeen and hopefully getting married at eighteen while war was going on all around them.  
  
Just then the door slid open and Mrs. Weasley walked out. She put her hand on Hermione's shoulder and sighed, also breathing in the fresh morning air. Mrs. Weasley smiled down at her giving her shoulder a squeeze.  
  
"Nice out here isn't it?" Mrs. Weasley said.  
  
"Yes, Mrs. Weasley, it is" Hermione said in reply.  
  
Mrs. Weasley sighed and said, "I wanted to talk to you about that."  
  
Hermione felt a lurch in her stomach and said, "What is it, Mrs. Weasley?"  
  
Mrs. Weasley sat down in a chair on the patio and said, "Around your age the same thing happened to me as is happening to you. Arthur and I got into some trouble and I thought I was pregnant. Of course, I didn't tell anyone besides him and right after Hogwarts, we were married. Now a month later I found out that I was wrong. I had all these dreams for my life but I realized that since I had made a mistake many of those dreams, I couldn't follow up."  
  
She paused for a second and continued, "Did you know that I was Head Girl in my year, Hermione?"  
  
Hermione looked shocked and said, "No."  
  
Mrs. Weasley smiled as if she was remembering some very good memories and said, "You don't think they get all their brains from their father, do you?"  
  
"Guess not," Hermione laughed.  
  
"Yes," Mrs. Weasley said, "I had some dreams and for a while I thought I would never achieve them. When we had Bill I knew that I wouldn't have been happier any other way. The first time I held him in my arms, I knew I couldn't have been more right to make that mistake. Then my dreams changed. Now, I have goals of finishing the endless pile of laundry and of having more than two seconds of quiet in the house-neither of which I have achieved ...yet. I didn't give up on my dreams, they just changed."  
  
Mrs. Weasley paused again and continued, "There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think what my life could have been like if I hadn't made that mistake ...and there is not a day that I am not grateful that I had made it. You remind me a lot of myself at your age. Never give up on your dreams, Hermione. Whether it be to explore the world or to be the best damn Mother there ever was. Never give up on them."  
  
Hermione's eyes teared up and she said, "Thank you Mrs. Weasley."  
  
Mrs. Weasley smiled and said, "You're welcome Hermione."  
  
Hermione smiled and turned around to go inside but Mrs. Weasley called her back and said, "Hermione."  
  
"Yes?" Hermione replied.  
  
Mrs. Weasley smiled and said, "Call me Mum."  
  
Hermione smiled back and said, "Thank you .Mum."  
  
With that Hermione went inside and Mr. Weasley went outside saying to his wife, "What was that about?"  
  
Mrs. Weasley shrugged and said, "Baby names and stuff."  
  
Mr. Weasley shrugged and said, "Oh, stuff."  
  
Hermione smiled to herself and entered the living room. Ron sat on the sofa and Ginny was working the old radio. Ron saw Hermione and immediately jumped up helping her over to the sofa. Ginny let out a sequence of coughs that sounded strangely like "wrapped around your finger".  
  
Ron glared at her and said, "Oh, look an owl from Harry."  
  
Ginny jumped up saying, "wherewherewhere."  
  
Ron and Hermione laughed and Ginny sat down back on the floor pouting and began to mess with the radio again. It took a minute but she got it and a rather airy voice came on.  
  
"Attention, Attention," the voice said, "a new order has been announced today by the ministry of magic. It decrees all women and children under the age of thirty to be evacuated from the area of Britain, France, Bulgaria, Italy, and Spain. Tomorrow all Ministry personnel from these countries will be visiting all the homes of citizens. If the couples are married and have protection set up they have the option to stay. However, this is not advised. The women and children will be transported to a secure location, the whereabouts of which are classified. All women and children to be ready tomorrow. If you do not come by free will you will come by force. Be at Kings Cross tomorrow at nine o'clock. That is all."  
  
The radio went dead and the room was silent. Ginny got up and ran to her room. Ron pulled Hermione close and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley stood at the door-frame apparently having heard the whole thing, but quickly left feeling that Ron and Hermione needed to be alone.  
  
Hermione buried her head into Ron's shoulder and said, "They can't do this to us. Haven't we been through enough?"  
  
Ron lifted her chin and said, "Hermione, you've been though more than your share of war, but we can't help this. We've got to be strong."  
  
Hermione looked up again and said, "I ...I could be Herman Grunting again. I can stay here with you."  
  
Ron smiled at her and said, "No, you can't. Remember ...Herman Grunting died in the first battle. Plus if you think that I would let you go out there again you're crazy."  
  
Hermione was crying hard now but said through the tears, "What do you mean, go back out there? You're staying here ...right? Ron, tell me you're staying here."  
  
Ron sighed and said, "I got a letter from Dumbledore today. He's asked me to come back. He said that he knows that you and Ginny and mum and dad don't want me to, but since everyone thinks I'm dead-I don't know how he knows I'm alive-it'll be helpful to the war as well as the order. He doesn't want me to either but you know as well as I that I've always been there when someone needed me. I feel like it's my duty to go. He's already arranged for members of the order to pick me up tomorrow at the train station."  
  
Hermione sobbed and Ron held her close. Both of them had known that this life was too good to last but at least they'd been together for a while. Hermione knew that Ron had to go but she wanted him to stay. She wanted to have a nice life with him, but no matter what dream she had it always was destroyed.  
  
Ron carried her up to her room and closed the door. All night she cried and all night Ron held her telling her it would be OK. But while he was comforting Hermione, Ron couldn't help thinking at the back of his mind that everything wasn't going to turn out okay. He was more trying to persuade himself to believe what he was saying that he was Hermione.  
  
The next day with all their stuff packed away, Ginny and Hermione went to King's Cross. Ginny and Hermione had both cried all night. Ron escorted her covered with the invisibility cloak Harry had given Ginny "just in case." Hermione wore huge robes to hide her pregnancy and avoided familiar faces.  
  
Finally it was time to say goodbye. Hermione lead Ron into a corner and he took off the invisibility cloak had I to her which she quickly stuffed under her robes. She kissed him, trying to memorize the way he tasted and the way he smelt, but it was in vain. He pulled away from her and lifted up the left side of his jacket to reveal none other than the Head Girl Badge that had saved his life once before.  
  
Hermione felt her eyes tear up and pulled up her large sleeve to reveal the ring he had gave her. Ron lifted her hand and kissed it bringing it to her face and then to her stomach. Hermione smiled and Ron wiped away a tear from her face.  
  
Then a familiar voice from behind them interrupted their goodbye saying, "Is this going to take all day, Weasley? Our train left five minutes ago."  
  
Hermione turned around to see none other than Draco Malfoy. Hermione almost thought that she saw him smirking. Ron rolled his eyes and gave him a look that clearly said 'sod off'.  
  
"Not you," he said to Draco.  
  
"Yes, me Weasley," Draco replied, "and guess what, you're late. The A. T. D. G. will not be happy."  
  
"What's the A. T. D. G.?" Ron asked.  
  
Draco rolled his eyes and said, "The Associating of Thought Dead Guys, Order of the Phoenix. Now let's go."  
  
He turned back to Hermione and gave her one last kiss before hugging her and whispering, "I love you, my Bright Eyes," to her.  
  
Hermione felt the urge to cry but held it back and watched him walk away with Draco. She didn't want to let him go but something inside of her told her she had to. Hermione watched him disappear into the crowd and softly whispered, "I love you, too."  
  
Hermione then felt of hand on her shoulder and she turned around only to see Ginny. She looked at the train and saw all kinds of women and children board it. Ginny smiled at her.  
  
"Time to go," she said, "stuff's all on board."  
  
Hermione took one last look back at this world she had entered when she was eleven years of age. She remembered all the good times she had and all the bad times too. Hermione breathed in and out loudly and turned to face Ginny. She knew there was no point in dwelling on the past.  
  
"Let's go," Hermione said soundly.  
  
Hermione knew that her life would never be perfect. The fates had never allowed her that. Every time something good had happened it had been taken away from her. However, Hermione also knew that if she kept dreaming someday her dreams would come true.  
  
Someday she and Ron would be together and the war would be over. Until that day all she could do was dare to dream about tomorrow and someday tomorrow would come. Hermione would be ready for that day. Hermione would always dare to dream about that day and when it came, she would she would be ready for it.  
  
With those thoughts, Hermione boarded the train and didn't look back on yesterday but forward to tomorrow. Hermione closed her eyes and Mrs. Weasley' s voice rang through her head helping her take that step on board.  
  
"Never give up on your dreams, Hermione. Whether it be to explore the world or to be the best damn Mother there ever was. Never give up on them."  
  
Hermione would always dare to dream.  
  
To be continued.  
  
(A/N: Well, that all there is for now. The next chapter is called Saving Grace and should be out soon as I do some work on it and it gets beta read. Hope you all are enjoying this story! Review me if you have time!) 


	6. Saving Grace

OK, here is my next chapter and what I think is my best one so far. It took me a couple time rewriting over and over and over again to get this chapter just right. I really enjoyed writing this part (especially the train station) and I hope you will enjoy reading it. Now for my "thank you"s.  
  
  
  
  
  
Firstly, to my Beta Reader Jules who put forth tremendous amounts of effort to make this fic the best it could be and put up with "hyphen happy" me.  
  
  
  
  
  
Secondly, to:  
  
  
  
  
  
Sgrquill,  
  
  
  
  
  
Madison,  
  
  
  
  
  
Herbie Werbie,  
  
  
  
  
  
Julie,  
  
  
  
  
  
BeaterWeasleyGRL  
  
  
  
  
  
for keeping up with my story and being so nice to review each time.  
  
  
  
  
  
Thirdly to:  
  
  
  
  
  
sTaCiE,  
  
  
  
  
  
bubbles,  
  
  
  
  
  
Nikki,  
  
  
  
  
  
tigress33,  
  
  
  
  
  
Lily P. Evans,  
  
  
  
  
  
wmlaw,  
  
  
  
  
  
and an anonymous review (you know who you are)  
  
  
  
  
  
for taking the time to write such nice things about this fic.  
  
  
  
And Oh, I'm so sorry I forgot a reviewer. A special thanks to  
  
Ronnie's Sunshine (love your name by the way)  
  
Extremely sorry that I forgot about you so an extra special thanks to you!  
  
  
  
Thanks to all of you. If it weren't for your kind words this fic would not have made it so far! I hope you Enjoy it!  
  
  
  
  
  
Chapter Five  
  
Saving Grace  
  
Hermione stepped into the train compartment and slid down in her seat across from Ginny. Ginny sighed and looked out of the window at the countryside. It didn't look like there was a war going on even though there clearly was. The war was, in fact, the reason that she was going away from one of the only people she had every truly loved. Hermione wanted to jump off the train now, but what Ron had told her the night before rang in her head. She had to stay behind. She had to be careful.  
  
But why did she have to be so unhappy?  
  
Hermione had promised Ron that she would not come after him and even though it hurt Hermione to keep her promise, she knew that Ron was right. Hermione knew that this was one promise she had to keep.**  
  
Before it had been only herself that she was getting into danger, but now it was not only her, but also her and Ron's child. Hermione knew that getting the baby hurt was a risk that she couldn't take. Otherwise, she would have run to him now and been by his side the whole time he fought.  
  
However, she had to think about the baby too. Even after the baby was to be born, Hermione would have to look out for him or her. She didn't want her son or daughter to end up like Harry and be an orphan. Even if Ron died - which he would not - Hermione promised herself that she would be there to raise their child.  
  
Hermione also hoped that their child would know his or her grandparents. Her mother and father suffered from amnesia and the Weasley's had decided to stay. Hermione smiled to herself as she remembered what Mrs. Weasley had said about staying.  
  
"I've survived seven children and been in labor six times. I've kept this household together and dealt with all kind of animals, charms, tricks, Muggle appliances, etc If the Death Eaters think they can beat me, they've got another thing coming to them/"  
  
Yes, that was Mrs. Weasley for you. She always could make you feel better about anything. She was a mother to the end. That statement right there had made her laugh; something that was harder to do then more than ever, because all she wanted to do was be with Ron back at the Burrow and stay with him forever.  
  
True, Mrs. Weasley was funny and Hermione didn't know which was her better quality. Her humor or her seriousness because what she said next had touched Hermione very deeply.  
  
"I've raised many children through the years and I've watched all of you grow. I still remember the first time I met you, Hermione. You and Ron fought like cats and dogs, but I always thought it would be you two. That summer he came home complaining about his Quidditch hero being evil, I knew he loved you."  
  
Mrs. Weasley had paused for a minute and continued, "You take care of yourself Hermione. I've stayed here all my life with Arthur and he has always protected me, so don't worry about us. I know that Ron would do the same if he could and he'll find some way to do it even if he's not right by your side. When you come back you will be a welcomed part of our family. I've really always though of you and Harry in that way, but now we'll just be making it official."  
  
If Hermione had loved Mrs. Weasley before, it was no comparison to how much she loved her now. Mrs. Weasley had always been a strong woman in Hermione's eyes, but now she was an even stronger than she had been before. She would stand by her husband until the world came to an end, which it might very well do.  
  
The train gave a lurch and Hermione was knocked out of her seat and into Ginny who sat across from her. Hermione felt something hit her stomach and gasped. It hurt more everyday to move and a hit to the stomach curtsey of the train hadn't felt too good.  
  
Ginny steadied her and exclaimed, "Hermione - are you okay?" it sounds more frantic**  
  
"Yes," Hermione gasped, "I'm fine Gin."  
  
Ginny helped Hermione into her seat and Hermione settled in, bracing herself this time in case the train lurched forward. Hermione let her hand rest upon her stomach and felt the baby kick. She giggled to herself and felt a tiny foot press up against her side. Hermione tickled it and felt the baby move.  
  
Hermione had a strange feeling about all this. She really didn't know whether this would be a boy or girl. Mrs. Weasley had said that she could tell it would be a girl when she was pregnant with Ginny. Hermione wondered if the baby would be all right-he or she sure moved a lot and seemed healthy enough, but still Hermione wasn't so sure. Hermione sighed and looked out the window at the passing fields.  
  
Then Ginny broke the silence by saying, "What does it feel like?"  
  
Hermione suddenly looked at Ginny trying to convince herself Ginny did not mean what Hermione thought she had meant before Ginny quickly added, "Being pregnant, I mean."  
  
Hermione let out a sigh of relief (she would have never wanted to tell Ginny about that) and said, "Oh, being pregnant, well."  
  
Hermione sighed and looked out the window. It was hard to put into words exactly what it was like. Sure there were all the normal things - morning sickness, cravings, mood swings - but there was also another side of it, a side that you couldn't really explain - happiness and sadness, power and weakness, adult and yet child. There was no way to really explain it. Ginny would just have to put up with the normal stuff.  
  
"It's sort of like having two people in you at the same time," Hermione said, hoping it would convey what she could not, "Like sometimes I just want an egg roll even though I've never wanted egg rolls before. I mean I eat all kinds of strange things. Then sometimes I get really emotional. I'll be fine one second and the next I'll be in tears. But most of the time it's wonderful. When I first found out I was shocked and scared of what everyone would think of me .but now it's wonderful."  
  
Ginny sighed and said, "I would have been devastated if it had been me. I mean to come home and face my mum and dad and then for the poor guy to face all my brothers."  
  
Hermione laughed and said, "I know your brothers almost killed Ron and he is their brother! I remember he got a few letters that burst into flames; I'm guessing that's the handy work of Charlie, Fred, and George. Percy sent him a letter a mile long. Bill gave him a nice long talking to when he came home."  
  
Ginny laughed and said, "The living room was blocked off for about two hours. You're right, Bill was furious. He kept on going on about how Ron should not have taken advantage of you. Really funny, that was."  
  
Hermione smiled and said, "GINNY! You listened in!"  
  
Ginny went scarlet and replied, "Well, yes. I mean I wanted to know what would make you go that far, you know. It was so sudden. I know you had your reasons. I don't think that I would have been able to bear it if I had been you, but still.. I just never thought. it would be you."  
  
Hermione looked back at Ginny and said, "I know what you mean. I never thought that it would be me either."  
  
Hermione sat for a moment and stared at her hands. It had been sudden, un- thought out, and completely unlike her normal self, but she was in love. Hermione was really only glad that the Weasley's had not forsaken her. She didn't know what her own parents would have thought, she had been afraid she would have had nowhere to go.  
  
"What are you thinking?" Ginny said breaking the silence.  
  
Hermione laughed and said, "I was thinking about how your mum and dad were OK with everything. I thought that they would have been furious."  
  
Ginny smiled and said, "Well, that's because you've always been like one of the family and I guess if anyone would understand it would be my parents. I mean, you lived at our house this summer. All my brothers see you as their sister. Well, almost all my brothers. I know that Ron doesn't see you as his sister."  
  
Hermione laughed and said, "I should hope not."  
  
Ginny smiled and paused a bit before saying, "Hermione I wish I had what you have."  
  
Hermione looked at her and said, "What ...cravings for unusual foods, mood swings, being violently sick without warning?"  
  
Ginny sighed and said, "No, after seeing those things I almost don't want to give birth. I just wish I had someone like Ron. I mean he pines over you for almost four years and then on the last day possible confesses his love for you and you give it all up for each other. It just sounds like something out of a storybook. You know."  
  
Hermione smiled at Ginny and said, "Well I have no happy ending ...yet. If it were all up to me I would not be here right now. If it were all up to me I would be at the Burrow sitting by the fire lying on the floor with Ron. Not pregnant, not separated from each other. Just enjoying each other's company. I mean, don't get me wrong. I already love this baby with all my heart, but I wish that we could have waited a few years. To tell the truth I really don't know if I'm ready to be a mother. I'm only eighteen and in a few months there will be someone who totally relies on me. I don't know if I can handle it."  
  
Ginny got up from her seat and sat next to Hermione. She placed her hand on Hermione's stomach and felt as the baby kicked. Ginny smiled up at Hermione, her eyes watering slightly.  
  
"You'll make a great mother," Ginny said.  
  
Hermione sniffed and replied, "Thanks Gin. I'm sure when Harry comes back and you get married and have kids you'll be a good mother too."  
  
Ginny sighed and said, "Do you really think that they will come back?"  
  
Hermione looked back at Ginny and said, "All we can do is hope and maybe some saving grace can come our way..."  
  
Ginny leaned her head on Hermione's shoulder and said, "Then I'll keep praying for that saving grace."  
  
Hermione smiled and said, "And so will I."  
  
With that the train came to an abrupt stop and Hermione was thankful that she had braced herself this time. Ginny got up and helped Hermione up too. Hermione was thankful for her big robes that hid her pregnancy and thankful that Ginny gave her the lighter things to carry.  
  
Suddenly the door to the compartment unlocked. Hermione and Ginny both smiled as it opened; they had been locked in there for nearly a day only allowed to come out to go to the restroom.  
  
Ginny smiled and watched as the door slid slowly open. There stood a kindly woman with sandy brown hair and dark brown eyes dressed in a black suit with an off-white blouse beneath. The woman looked middle-aged. She was not too thin, but not overweight. The woman smiled contentedly at them.  
  
She looked a bit French, but must not have been solely French since she lacked some of the traits that signified she was pure French. She looked slightly French, but must not have been solely French as she lacked some of the traits that showed it was pure. Her hair was tied back in a ponytail, leaving only a few strands that framed her face on which make-up had been perfectly applied. When she greeted them, her voice held no trace of a French accent.  
  
She took one of the trunks from Ginny and said, "I'm Hillary Thomas. My husband Tom is waiting for us so we'd better hurry up. The traffic is horrible this time of day. If we want to get home anytime this century, we'll need to leave right away."  
  
Hermione and Ginny shook hands with Hillary and followed her out of the train and onto a platform much like the one at Platform 9 3/4. Hermione looked around and saw many people who must have been from many different countries. Some had dark skin and others had very fair. Some were short and others tall. Some had tattoo's and some had on exotic body jewelry.  
  
However, most of the people looked the same, and yet different. Most of them wore dark colors and were dressed, not in wizard robes, but what looked like suits. Some carried briefcases and many could have easily passed for Muggles, but the large pieces of wood sticking out of their pockets gave them away to anyone who knew better.  
  
Hermione looked around and saw several barriers that had gold posts around each of them. People were going through the large barriers in groups and disappearing through the blue liquid looking material within the area between the posts. There were guards standing by the outside of the passageway. They were dressed in navy blue robes and wearing Muggle police hats that were also navy blue with a yellow line going across. They were letting a few people across at a time. The ones who were not wearing Muggle suits had been given black cloaks.  
  
"A man with dark hair and blue eyes suddenly came hurrying towards them holding a bundle of cloaks in his arms. He was wearing a pressed light blue shirt with the sleeves rolled up and black trousers. "Hillary dear we'd better get on the road. Traffic is horrible."  
  
This must be Hillary's husband, thought Hermione. He suddenly realized Hermione and Ginny were standing there and said shaking their hands, "Hello, I'm Sam Thomas, Hillary's husband. You girls will be staying with us. Here are your cloaks. You'll need to put them on, don't want to get the Normals to get suspicious. Seriously, I don't know what Congress thinks they are doing trying to move all these people here without them noticing."  
  
Ginny and Hermione both put on the cloaks they were handed a bit perplexed. Normals? Congress? What was this? It was like Hermione's first day in the Wizarding World all over again. She was now sure that she was indeed in another country. Hermione took a glance at the cloak in her hands. As she glanced at the clasp, She saw that it had an eagle engraved on it when she brought the clasp together.  
  
Mr. Thomas took their bags and put them on a cart, wheeling it towards one of the barriers. Together, Hermione, Ginny, Hillary, and Mr. Thomas got in line and slowly the line began to move toward the barriers. Ginny looked around, not knowing where she was. Everything was happening so fast. It was hard to take it all in.  
  
"So, where are you girls from?" Asked Hillary, trying to make conversation.  
  
"Britain," said Hermione as she continued to look around.  
  
"A bit much isn't it," Hillary said, "well, you'll get use to it. Our countries really aren't that different from each other. Still, I think Congress is moving too fast. The Wizarding British and German Embassy's were overrun this morning. I didn't even stop in to see the French. It was so much trouble just to get you and your friends' names and place where you would arrive at. You're family?"  
  
Hermione smiled and blushed a bit saying, "No .well .yes. You see I'm engaged to her brother. He's fighting right now, but he wanted me to stay with Ginny, his sister."  
  
"How nice," Hillary said with a warm smile and continued, "your profile said that you went to Hogwarts. Best school in my opinion, but Salem was so much closer so we sent Elizabeth there instead. You were Valedictorian - or is it Head Girl? - too, I understand,"  
  
Hermione smiled and said, "Yes, I was, but we really never finished our last year. It was cut short by the draft. Ginny probably isn't even going to get her seventh year."  
  
Hillary smiled and replied, "Well, Sam is a Librarian at the local college. I'm sure he can give her something to study while she's here. Isn't that right Sam?"  
  
Hillary cleared her throat loudly and repeated, "Sam?"  
  
"Yes dear," Mr. Thomas said, obviously coming out of his trance, "what is it?"  
  
"You will help Ginny here," she gestured to Ginny who had been listening to the whole conversation and was now smiling in remembrance of her own parents, "with her studies, won't you?"  
  
"Of course," he said with a smile on his face, "what grade would she be in?"  
  
But Ginny never got the chance to answer because an airy voice called "Next!" and they all went through the gold pillars and through the bluish material barrier. Hillary took both the girls hands and Sam pushed their carts through the busy station. It looked like a huge subway. There were many people there walking. Most of them were Muggles, some talking on miniature Muggle phones, others looking at watches, and still others talking while walking through the station.  
  
Hermione didn't recollect ever being in such a busy place. King's Cross had been busy enough, but it was now as if there were a million people all going different places and pushing to get there with incredible motivation. Some people bumped into Hermione, but said not one word and kept walking by. Hermione even saw a few people dressed in strange clothes with strange colored hair. Everywhere Hermione looked, there were people rushing somewhere. It was so much to take in. Hermione just let herself be led through by Hillary, thankful that someone was there to help her.  
  
Soon the honking of horns was audible through the voices of the crowd. The four of them emerged on to a busy street filled with people. Somewhere someone was yelling to someone else and the woman next to Hermione was telling someone to cancel the deal over her miniature Muggle phone. Hillary continued to guide Hermione and Ginny onward.  
  
They stopped at the side of the street and Hillary stuck out her arm. "Taxi!" she said loudly in the direction of a yellow Muggle car coming their way. The car stopped and the four of them got in. Hillary told the driver, a man in an odd turban that much reminded her of Professor Quirrel, something that sounded like the strange name of a house, and the cab sped off.  
  
"Where are we?" Ginny asked in a confused tone that much mirrored her own confusion.  
  
Hermione looked out the car window and said, a little unsure of herself, "America, Gin. I think we're in America."  
  
*****************  
  
Hogwarts castle had always been somewhat dreary to Ronald Weasley. It had nowhere near the amount of 'family-ness' that the Burrow had always contained. Now with all the students gone it seemed to be only a shadow of it's former self. A shell, as it were, of what once had been a living, breathing, animal, but now nothing more than something for display on a shelf.  
  
Now, there were no Weasley twins waiting to play a trick on you around the next corner. There was no Harry to get in trouble with and serve a detention with later that day. No Ginny to tease whenever things got boring. No Quidditch to distract him from a rather gruesome double potions lesson. No Hogsmeade weekend to look forward to. Not even a piece of homework assigned a week ago, due tomorrow to cram for.  
  
However, the thing Ron missed most wasn't any of these things, but his girlfriend.  
  
No Hermione, Ron thought as he stared out the window. Ron had known that her leaving was or for the best to keep her safe, but he still missed her deeply. Sure, his job was better than most people's were. The rest of the members of the ATDG treated Ron well, but he still hated the idea of him having to be away from Hermione.  
  
Especially in these times. The war raged on and with the help of The Order of the Phoenix, the sides were even. All they needed now was something to tip the scale and they would win. Just to be one up on the Death Eaters and they stood a chance at winning or driving them out of Britain at least. One hint to the whereabouts of the Death Eaters and it might be enough. But nothing so far.  
  
Ron stared at the solid gold band on his finger. It had engraved in it the letters "OoP" and two pictures of a Phoenix on either side of the engraving. The letters stood for Order of the Phoenix and the Phoenix was their symbol. It symbolized hope in the time of war, always springing up from its ashes, never dying, and healing what it could.  
  
The ring was the calling device. When it sent a gentle shock to your finger, you were to drop what you were doing and report to what had been the Great Hall. It was a very dangerous rope to walk if you joined The Order, but yet his life seemed somewhat dreary all the same.  
  
Ron crossed his room and went over to sit on his bed. It was all just as he had remembered it at Hogwarts, except there was no bushy haired bossy know- it-all that he could accidentally bump into in the library. No one to nag him about his table manners. No one to stay up studying all night with him when he hadn't studied and the test was tomorrow. No one to remind him to write home every so often and to give Pig a treat for doing it. There was no Hermione there and Ron felt that if there was no Hermione, Hogwarts was not complete. He was not complete.  
  
But even if Hermione had been here with him - and Ron knew that if she had not been pregnant - Hogwarts would still have been different. The feel of the castle was tense and jumpy. No students stayed in the dormitories. Only a few paintings still remained on the walls. No desks were in the classrooms. The school was so different, so changed. So - like the rest of them - tainted with stains of the war.  
  
Hogwarts was now the official base for the Order and he, Ronald Weasley, was a part of that. Ron had lived at Hogwarts through every school term but now it was different. Sure, the places were the same, but now the classrooms no longer held desks and books, but training equipment. Ron would have traded just about anything to be back to where he was last year but now, it was too late.  
  
He laid back and stared at the ceiling of his room. It was a nice room and had once belonged to one of the teachers, but had been out of use for years when she had finally left to return to what was left of her family as a result a Death eater attack. The room had a lovely view though. A view which Ron thought boring now that he had saw it for such long a time. Some nights he spent looking out of that window at the horizon praying for a sign that Hermione was okay. But the sky held no sign of that.  
  
The sun's pinks and yellows shone in the tiny room and illuminated its contents. Ron got up off his bed and stared out the window to do as he had done many nights before and waited.  
  
The breeze lifted his hair up and Ron stared out at the magnificent sight. Of course, in it he saw nothing more than the face of his Bright Eyes staring back down at him. His Bright Eyes, Ron thought, was in America without any protection besides a middle-aged wizarding couple. He wished that he could have stayed with her, but Dumbledore had written to him personally and asked him to join The Order, and who was he to refuse?  
  
At least this way he could keep an eye on Harry. He had been most affected by this war. He had nightmares every night when they had both had been in school and those had been very shaking. Ron remembered them vividly and that was because he never left Harry's side when he had a nightmare. Ron could only imagine the nightmares that he had now that Voldemort was back in power, now that Harry knew of the damage Voldemort was doing and knew that it was not too many Chocolate-Covered-Frogs after supper.  
  
Ron lazily stared out the window some more, but a knock at the door aroused him from his thoughts. Slowly the door creaked open. In the doorframe stood another member of Ron's team. Her name was Linda, but Ron knew that she was trouble from the moment he saw her.  
  
Linda was tall and slender with violet colored eyes. She was also a blonde, and that right there would have been all Hermione would have needed to hear. Ron had always had a weakness for blondes, and the fact that she was just drop dead gorgeous didn't help the matter much for his case.  
  
"Hello," she said silkily as she entered the room. She was not wearing her normal uniform but instead a thin nightdress, a very thin nightdress that Ron was sure wasn't an Order issue uniform.  
  
"What do you want?" Ron asked harshly.  
  
Linda sighed and said, "Only to see how you are doing."  
  
Linda came closer to Ron and whispered in his ear, "She'll never know."  
  
Ron felt Linda's hands slide on his shoulders and caress his neck as she bent down close to his ear. What was this woman playing at? She knew darn well that he already had a child on the way and that he was engaged.  
  
"Right," said Ron standing up abruptly and walking to the other side of the room to avoid Linda and continuing, "that's because there will be nothing for her to find out about."  
  
Linda turned around and looked at Ron with the same slyness in her eyes saying, "You know most men would be more than glad to be in your position."  
  
"Well I'm not most men," Ron replied and continued, "If you have anything to tell me, say it now and get out."  
  
Linda looked taken aback for a second and then replied, "You know you want me Ronald Weasley."  
  
"The only thing I want," Ron said, "is for you to leave."  
  
Ron opened the door and motioned for Linda to leave. Linda didn't say another word, but walked right past him. Ron closed and locked the door behind her. Linda had been after Ron from the beginning. The first night that he had arrived she had flirted with him shamelessly.  
  
Ron at first thought that maybe she didn't know about him already being engaged so he had mentioned it to her. When she had heard this, she had simply shaken her head and walked away, but she had come back for more later. Linda was stubborn and Ron knew that she hadn't cared at all about him already having a to-be-wife and a baby on the way. She fancied him and had been throwing herself at him ever since.  
  
This bothered him to no extent. It was true, he always had a weakness for blondes, but he would never cheat on Hermione. Especially now after all that she had done for him. She gave up her innocence, her dreams, and her freedom all for him and what had he given up? If anything, he owed Hermione his life.  
  
Ron walked over to his dresser and read the last letter that Hermione had wrote him. Just seeing her handwriting was enough and Ron loved her letters, but it took so long to get to him and he hadn't received one in two weeks. It made him wonder if Hermione was all right. The New York penthouse she stayed in with the Thomas' seemed safe, but was anywhere really safe in times like these. Just the other day someone had ransacked the Burrow. Thankfully, no one had been home.  
  
Ron sighed at remembering hearing the news and opened the worn parchment.  
  
  
  
Dearest Ron,  
  
How are you, love? I'm doing OK, I think. The baby moves more often now. I think that it is a girl. Your mum says that she could tell what all her children were before they were born. I hope it's a girl, but I don't care what it is so much as if the baby will be OK.  
  
Ginny is doing fine. She's taking lessons from Mr. Thomas at the library where he works to make up for the schooling she's missing. I've been to the University a few times with them. It's so much better than Hogwarts' library. I might really think of attending NYWWA (New York Witchcraft and Wizarding Academy) when we get everything sorted out. Maybe it might help with my parents. I would really love to get them back. Do you think that it's possible? Maybe if I studied hard.but let's not think about that now.  
  
Anyway, I'm having a good time in the States. You would never believe how the same and yet different we are. Instead of Muggles they call them Normals. Instead of a Ministry they have a Congress. Mrs. Thomas is a senator at the capital of Wizarding America (Salem, Massachusetts), but she lives near New York for hiding purposes since there are Death Eaters even in America. Ginny and I are safe though.  
  
Now I guess I have to get to the reason I wrote this letter. Well. you see. yesterday, I had to tell the Thomas' that I was pregnant. I'm finally showing just how pregnant I really am (hard to believe that I'm 7 and half months isn't it). They took it a bit hard and asked me why I hadn't told them. Ron, I'm sorry but I told them the whole story about Hogwarts and the war and everything. Please forgive me love. They deserved to know.  
  
Ginny is worrying more and more everyday about Harry. Her studies distract her a bit, but not entirely. Harry writes in his letters that he is fine, but I know that he's not. He shakes when he writes, I can tell by his handwriting. He's not OK. He blames himself, I know he does. Please look him up for Ginny and me. I don't want to have to hear Ginny cry herself to sleep anymore than I already have had to.  
  
I miss you. I hope you can come back to me soon. Mrs. Thomas says that there might be an attack to overtake the Death eater in Britain soon. Intelligence might have something. She not sure though, she's not really into the military and she had enough to do with Magical Corporations between the states (Death Eaters are causing trouble with political relations) without me questioning her about us being able to go home.  
  
I really want to go soon though. I want to see you again. Maybe you can come see me here. I miss you more everyday and I know that the baby misses you as well. We both miss you.  
  
Come back to me soon.  
  
Love you always and forever, Your Bright Eyes  
  
  
  
Ron smiled and folded up the letter and put it back on his nightstand. He really hoped that it was a girl. He wanted it to be a boy too, but really couldn't decide. Ron had the same view as Hermione on this subject; he didn't care if it was a boy or girl, just if that the baby was healthy and happy. It was hard to imagine that he would be a father, but he couldn't wait to try.  
  
Ron couldn't wait to start his life with Hermione and the baby. He wanted to marry her more than anything and he wanted to trade her now worn Head Girl Badge in for a proper ring. He wanted to buy Hermione expensive jewels and spoil her rotten. He wanted to show her just how much he loved her - if that was possible.  
  
Then, Ron was jerked out of his thoughts when his ring gave his hand a slight shock. He jumped a bit from surprise and knew what it meant. Another mission. Ron got his gear from the chair next to him and pinned the Head Girl badge on the inside of his jacket. He stuck his wand in his pocket and went down to briefing in what used to be the Great Hall.  
  
When he got down the whole order was assembled in the hall. It was strange to have everyone assembled. Usually it was one or two teams at a time depending on what was needed. The association that Ron belonged to (the A. T. D. G.) was composed of people that were thought to be dead, so they usually went on the more risky missions. Ron had never seen the whole order assembled before. It was rather unsettling when he began to think of the reason they might be there. Ron got in line and waited for Dumbledore to begin.  
  
"My esteemed colleges and friends," he said, "tonight we are going on the most dangerous mission yet. Tonight is the night that fate is decided for the world," he paused and continued, "we have found the location of Voldemort's supporters in Britain. He is not among them. However, if we strike now it will weaken the defense and maybe help us win the war. If when win this battle, all your loved ones will be able to come home. If we win this battle, we might win this war."  
  
The Hall was silent and slowly but surely understanding dawned on everyone. This was it. This was the battle. Ron stood still as a stone and thought of what this could bring. This might bring his Bright Eyes back to him, but then if they failed, it might wreak havoc on the wizarding world. They might win, but would it be only to fuel the Death Eaters thrust for causing pain and suffering.  
  
Twenty minutes later they were one their way to the hideout. No one spoke. All were lost in their thought. Ron was first to break the silence of the tunnels in which they traveled. Any minute now, the Death Eaters could attack. The silence was so intense you could cut it with a knife.  
  
"So Malfoy," he said to the blonde boy man to his left, "when we win this, what are you going to do?"  
  
Draco paused a moment and said, "Keep fighting. What else?"  
  
This didn't surprise Ron. Ever since his mother had been murdered he had sworn revenge on the dark side. His mother had been the only one to really ever care for him and his own father had helped in her down fall.  
  
There were a few moments of silence and Malfoy asked, "What will you do Weasley? Marry Granger and have a Quidditch team full of children."  
  
Ron paused for a second and said, "No ...I plan to have two Quidditch teams full of children."  
  
Malfoy smiled and Ron almost thought that he heard him laugh a bit, but in a few seconds it didn't matter. There were spells shooting everywhere. They were now in battle once again. Ron ducked out of the way without second thought with help from to his newfound reflexes curtsey of months of battle in the Order.  
  
They were being attacked already. That must mean that they were close to the control center. If they shut down the control center, then they would win. It was where the control for the whole operation in Britain was. Since Voldemort could no longer be there to touch the mark of a Death Eater when they were needed, there was a device created that would make their scars sear with pain for a brief second exactly like it would if Voldemort himself touch the mark of a Death Eater. This device was called the key. Ron threw himself out of the corners with Malfoy following close behind him.  
  
Through random wand fire they went. It was chaos. Their plan had been explained simple to them; get the key and activate it, but keep on activating it until it jams and keeps sending searing pain to the dark mark on the Death eaters arms. This would render them helpless. Ron smirked as he thought this, sending a spell over his shoulder and making a quick decision to take a left down another long tunnel. The farther he got down it, the more Death Eaters he saw.  
  
It was such irony, thought Ron. Voldemort always had a fixation with pain and suffering. It just figured that his summon would be one of pain. But Voldemort had overlooked one fatal element when he created the key. Voldemort had overlooked the fact that this enabled someone else to call the Death Eater. They didn't even have to be a Death Eater. Complete and total irony - Voldemort's summons would be his servants downfall.  
  
Then Ron felt a spell graze his shoulder. He had been so lost in thought that he wasn't concentrating on the battle. The curse drained him of all his energy. Ron stopped and fell to the ground feeling that he could go no more. He felt as though he was dying, but he was so close the control room - he could see it through all the fighting - but all Ron's strength was gone. or was it?  
  
From somewhere in the corners of Ron's mind came the image of Hermione, but ...different. She looked no older than fourteen and she carried herself differently. She was tall than Hermione too. Instead of frizzy brown hair there was a reddish tint to it and it seemed more curled. There were some freckles with the same dimples that Ron knew as one of Hermione's disguising characteristics.  
  
This Hermione wore glasses and had sky blue eyes. Then the girl looked up at him and Ron saw that she looked as if she was carrying a broom and some books. It also looked like she was getting off of a scarlet steam engine. She was wearing robes that were black with a red emblem with a lion on it. Behind her were three others. From a glance Ron could see that two were boys and one was a girl.  
  
The two boys looked alike. They weren't twins and one looked about thirteen and the other only eleven. They both had emerald green eyes and freckles. One was tall and lanky and the other was short and skinny. The taller one had wavy jet-black hair and the shorter ones hair was a lighter shade of brown and very messy. But Ron didn't have time to go into further thought because soon the boys ran towards two figures. One very reminiscent of his own mother and the other tall with very messy black hair and strangely familiar glasses.  
  
The other girl looked about the same age as the one in front, but this girl was strikingly different. She looked as if she could have been a clone of someone he knew but could not quite put his finger on. Her hair was a white blonde and only came down shoulder length. She bore eyes of deep violet. The girl was tall and skinny. She looked as if she had to beat off boys with a stick, but yet her face was kind and not the usual face of someone who was so fortunate in outward appearances. And on her robes were not a scarlet and gold crest, but a blue and sliver one. She gave the reddish-brown haired girl a hug and turned to walk to two tall figured both bearing blonde hair and looked strangely familiar.  
  
That left only the girl in front. The one who looked so much like Hermione, but different all the same. The girl slowly smiled. When she smiled, Ron saw that she had slightly larger front teeth. The image of this girl seemed to stir Ron, but it wasn't enough. Then, girl came slowly toward him. Ron could tell that she was going faster than it appeared now. She accidentally dropped a few books from her bag and she waved her broom carelessly in the air. Then as she drew almost near enough to touch with, her arms wide open reaching straight for him, she mouthed a word that Ron could only make out as something that would have made him cry had he not been fighting for his life.  
  
"Daddy."  
  
Ron then felt as though this girl was his saving grace. This picture seemed to give him strength. Out of somewhere came a baby's crying. Ron seemed fully aware of what was going on. He got up and sprinted toward the door. He felt as if the girl gave him strength to move on and a reason to live through this.  
  
He dashed toward the control room. Spells hit him but somehow they didn't hurt and Ron couldn't care. Someone was running at his side. Friend or foe Ron never knew because he didn't look back. In his mind the illusion of the girl still lingered and the baby crying continued now mingled with an older voice and childish giggles.  
  
The control room was right there, not ten feet from him.  
  
He ran more, not five feet from him.  
  
He felt his searing pain in his ankle as it broke and shattered, not two feet from him.  
  
Ron yelled but continued on. He was in. The key lay on the floor unprotected and unguarded.  
  
Someone pushed Ron from behind and saw a curse pass where he would have been standing. "GO! GET IT!" he heard a voice scream in a sort of echoed fashion in his head. It mingled with the cries, voices, and giggles and Ron obeyed the command. He pushed himself on tip of it and grabbed it. He pushed himself up and felt someone claw at his leg.  
  
Ron screamed as he pulled at the broken ankle and he concentrated at his job. He took his wand and said once "Darkis Markium Commandio, Darkis Markium Commandio, Darkis Markium Commandio!"  
  
The clawing as his leg subsided. Again Ron raised his wand "Darkis Markium Commandio, Darkis Markium Commandio, Darkis Markium Commandio, Darkis Markium Commandio!" There were screams around. Once more, Ron thought, only once more.  
  
But he had nothing left. No magic could he feel run though his veins. Again the images flashed in front of him and then an old one. One that he knew very well. Something that he himself had said and someone he knew very well had answered.  
  
"I will come back to you my Bright Eyes. I. Will. Come. Back."  
  
"I love you Ron, don't leave me."  
  
The voices cleared and it was as if Ron could feel all the magic he possessed condense at his fingers. He could feel it in his very blood, in every ounce of himself. In every pore, every strand of hair, every freckle, every emotion, every sensation, every memory, every dream, every hate, every love. In everything that made Ron Weasley who he was. In everything that he was to become. In all that he would not leave undone. All those he refused to leave.  
  
"Darkis Markium Commandio!" Ron screamed. Shouts of agony penetrated the whole tunnel system and echoed, mingling with the continuing crys. Ron fell down, his job completed, and passed out. The last picture in his head was of his Bright Eyes and the girl that was his saving grace, the reasons he was able to go on.  
  
He made it. Ron made it. The war was not over yet but the Death Eaters had been driven from Britain. They were all coming home. His Bright Eyes was coming home.  
  
Ron waited impatiently at Platform Nine and Three quarters. He checked his watch and looked down the tracks again. His mom smiled beside him and his father put his hand on his son's shoulder and whispered, "They will be here."  
  
Ron gave his father a look and glanced over at his side. Harry stood there. He was paler than Ron had remembered, but maybe that was from the anxiety that this slow train was causing him. After all, he had not seen her for eight months.  
  
Then a whistle was heard from down the track. Everyone crowded around the engine as people began to unload. Ron fought his way over to the front. Suddenly, he saw a familiar redheaded girl pelt out and throw herself on to his best friend. It was Ginny. She had completely forgotten about her luggage and was now sobbing in Harry's arms.  
  
Harry looked as if he was about to cry to. He held her tightly and slightly rocked her back and forth, a single solitary tear falling down his cheek as he buried his head in the redhead's hair. Finally letting eight months of emotion find their way out.  
  
Ron smiled, as his father tapped him on the shoulder and pointed to someone standing behind. Or rather sometwo. Mrs. Weasley covered her mouth and a silent tear ran down her cheek. She tried to step out but Mr. Weasley held his arm out and pointed to his son who stared intently at the two people in front of him.  
  
It was Hermione, and in her arms was a bundle. Everyone else in the train station seemed to fade away as Ron carefully approached Hermione. She took the last step off the train and came close to Ron carrying the bundle tightly in her arms. Ron couldn't speak or move, he just stood. Hermione let a tear run down her cheek and looked up at Ron.  
  
"Ron," she said, "meet your daughter, Grace Laura Weasley."  
  
Hermione burst out into tears and Ron hugged her tightly, but was careful not to squeeze the baby in her arms. Hermione smiled and handed the baby over to Ron, showing him how to support his little girls' head.  
  
Ron stared in amazement at the bundle. It moved slightly and from an opening Ron could see a small amount of curly brownish-red hair and sky blue eyes. The baby wiggled around a bit and yawned. Ron had already fallen in love with her.  
  
"Hello my angel," he said in a soft voice, "are we tired?"  
  
Hermione laughed and cried at the same time. Ron held her close with his free hand and pulled her into him, letting her cry tears of happiness and feeling as he might do the same thing. There holding the two most important women in his life, all the struggles he had gone through in his life somehow worth it right then.  
  
Ron knew that he was in for many years of boyfriends and dates and fights about not letting her do anything, but he decided that he would do his best to be the best father in the world since she already had the best mother.  
  
Ron held both of them close and closed his eyes, for once he was glad, being in the presence of both his Bright Eyes and his Saving Grace. He was truly the luckiest man alive.  
  
You are my  
  
Greatest gift  
  
I don't know how  
  
I'd live  
  
You are my  
  
Saving grace - Jann Arden  
  
"Ode To A Friend"  
  
To be continued.  
  
(A/N: Well, I really want feedback! How was it? Too mushy? Well, please tell me. And I hope you're all happy now that they are all together again. I've had this up my sleeve since about the third chapter. I also really enjoyed making up the "Congress of Magic" part when Hermione goes to America. It was so much fun to be able to think outside of the box that JKR created for once and be able to make up my own rules. And by the way, that quote from Jann Arden's "Ode To A Friend" inspired this part so I put it at the end. This story is winding down to an end, but still two more chapters and an Epilogue to go. Tell me what you think though! I really want to hear! Review if you have time!) 


	7. Decisions

Hello all! I know it's been a while but this chapter too a really long time to write (give me a break I'm a Sophomore in High School not a pro writer. yet) and had loads of mistakes for my beta to sort out. I've noticed that many of you have taken an interest in Draco and there's a bit in this chapter and he'll get what's coming to him in the next one. So here we go with the "thank you"s!  
  
Firstly to me beta and friend  
  
B4zooka Jules.  
  
If you have time may I recommend her new story Tears of Pearls. It's awesome and can be viewed at  
  
http://www.fanfiction.net/profile.php?userid=250172  
  
Secondly to:  
  
Trinity13131,  
  
Sunshyndaisies (formerly know as sgrquill. LOVE the new name),  
  
Hermione Weasley,  
  
sTaCiE,  
  
Katt,  
  
Ariana,  
  
Hox ,  
  
wmlaw,  
  
SunMoonStars29,  
  
Madison,  
  
BeaterWeasleyGRL,  
  
MissBlack89,  
  
Herbie,  
  
Witella,  
  
And Tanny  
  
Who all reviewed me. Those of you who have reviewed me before and are keeping up with the story get an extra-special thanks. You know who you are. Anyway, please enjoy the next chapter of Bright Eyes, Decisions.  
  
Chapter Six  
  
Decisions  
  
"Up we go," Ron laughed as he bounced his baby girl up in the air.  
  
Grace laughed and waved her arms wildly, squirming around in Ron's arms. He brought her down to him and kissed the end of her nose. Grace smiled and Ron held her up again and spun her around. The sunlight caught Grace's short reddish-brown curls making her hair seem on fire.  
  
Ron marvelled at his tiny daughter. It hadn't occurred to him that you could love anything or anyone' here this much. Besides Hermione, he loved his daughter more than anybody. When he first got her home he had been a bit scared of her. She was so small and needed him so much. He hadn't been relied on that much in his entire life. Not even War Camp could have prepared him for fatherhood.  
  
Grace had been born one month early. For a while, she had been in a Muggle hospital in the intensive care unit. The labour had really taken it out of Hermione. Ginny had informed Ron that it had actually been touch-and- go for a few moments, but Hermione had pulled through. Hermione had merely told him that everything went fine, but Ron knew her better than that. She was still weak, even now, but Grace was perfect, a normal and happy baby girl. His and Hermione's normal, happy, baby girl.  
  
"Ronald Arthur Weasley, put her down this instant," said a voice from the doorway of the Burrow.  
  
Ron stopped spinning Grace and turned around to see his mother at the door with a laundry basket on her hip and 'that look' that told him he was in trouble on her face. Mrs. Weasley had been official-well-being-overseer of Grace ever since she arrived home. It seemed as if she had taken on the full responsibility of making sure that Grace wasn't upset in any way, shape, or form. Ron was surprised that Grace hadn't been sealed up in a bubble. Not that he was completely sure that his mother hadn't tried that.  
  
"Why?" Ron replied, Grace squirming in his arms to play some more, "She likes it."  
  
"Yes," Mrs. Weasley said shrewdly, "and I'm sure that you will like it just as much when the poor child looses her lunch on you. Now hand her here, Hermione wants a word with you. Goodness knows I would have a few for you if I were her."  
  
Ron brought Grace eye level with him and said to her, "I'm going to give you to Grandmum now, but don't worry. I'll be back soon. Won't leave you with the Fun-Nazi for too long."  
  
Ron quickly handed Grace to Mrs. Weasley. Mrs. Weasley smirked at her son and took her Granddaughter. She quickly conjured a small cloud in the shape of a baby cradle that hovered in midair next to the clothesline. Mrs. Weasley placed Grace in it and the cradle began to sway slowly, while Mrs. Weasley began to hum Twinkle-Twinkle Little Star softly as she picked up a piece of laundry and hung it up to dry. The tiny baby girl stretched and yawned. Mrs. Weasley marvelled for a second how much she looked like her mother, but acted like her father, and continued with the laundry.  
  
Ron bounded inside the Burrow and through the kitchen. He turned the corner and slowed down to make his way up the stairs. The Burrow really hadn't changed at all since he was young. The only thing that had been added was a room at the top for Hermione and the baby.  
  
Hermione usually stayed in the room during the day. Even though she had given birth to Grace just over a month ago, she was still tender since she had a hard labour. Every once in a while she would come downstairs but in the end Mrs. Weasley would end up ushering her back up for one reason or another. After about two weeks, Mrs. Weasley had allowed Grace to be taken from the room because Hermione had insisted that she bond with her father. Molly hadn't liked that much, but since it was Hermione and her son's child, she couldn't find a reason to stop her.  
  
Ron spent most of his time at work these days. It hadn't been one week after England was taken back by the light side, when Mrs. Weasley had sat all her boys down and told them to find jobs. Bill, who already had a job at the ministry, had helped Ron out an awful lot to find him a job.  
  
Ron had ended up getting a position in none other than the Department of Magical Artifacts. While Ron was younger he had gone with his dad to work on many occasions and some how or another always ended up in the department of Magical Artifacts. Ron remembered that he always went there because of the interesting things it always held.  
  
Once he had even found a hat that made you look the exact opposite of what you really looked like. When he had put it on, his red hair had gone black and curly, his skin turned a brown colour, and his eyes had gone deep brown. It had really been scary, but all the same, Ron had enjoyed messing around with it for the day.  
  
Today, the office still brought in contraptions like that, but with the Death Eaters' homes raided, they also had many other Dark Arts materials. Ron put them in inventory and stored them in a vault. He really hadn't planned on keeping this job for a long time. It was just something to make enough to buy a house for him, Hermione, and Grace to live in so they wouldn't still be at the Burrow.  
  
Fred and George had opened the Joke shop that they always wanted. Diagon Alley had been more than happy to let them rent a store and even though they were still in the construction stages, everything seemed to be going fine. Everybody in the Wizarding world could use a few good jokes now and good jokes they were. It made Ron wonder where they got the money for all the supplies and rent though. Diagon Alley may have lowered their prices, but they still weren't cheap. Of course then, this was Fred and George, and you never could be quite sure with that pair.  
  
After Hogwarts, Mrs. Weasley had made the twins get jobs at the Ministry. Surely they didn't save as much to afford a shop in Diagon Alley. However, every time this was brought up Fred and George would direct the conversation in a different direction. One day he would find out though.  
  
Percy had resumed his position as Head of the Department of International Commerce. He was currently engaged to his girlfriend, Penelope Clearwater. However, this was no new development. They had been engaged since before the war, but Percy had always wanted everything to be in order before they married. He wanted to make sure that they had sufficient finances and somewhere safe to raise their children as well as having enough time to be able to spend together in peace. So they had decided to wait until the war was cleared up before settling down.  
  
Bill had shortly filled the position as Head of the Department of International Cooperation's, but he had quit and was currently being transferred back to his old job at Gringotts. He was still alone. No one had graced his life like that yet and so it seemed that no one would. His mother had long since given up setting him up with good witches from respectable families. The one person he should have been with was a casualty of the war. She had died at the beginning, one of the first to stand up to Voldemort. She had died standing, looking straight into the Dark Lord's heartless eyes. She died still carrying a baby in her arms. A baby that curiously enough, had red hair. Bill planned to seek him out after the war.  
  
That left only two Weasley's.  
  
Charlie was still fighting. He had opted to go to France to finish off the last of the Death Eaters there. Charlie had now joined the Order of the Phoenix. Charlie was not alone though; there was another certain dragon trainer he had his eyes on. One that Harry knew very well. One that went by the name of Cho Diggory. True, she had not yet forgotten how much Cedric meant to her but when the war was over, she had told Charlie, she would feel that her duty to seek justice for him would be complete. Then, and only then, would she be able to let his soul rest in peace.  
  
Cho and Charlie were some of the only people who still wanted to fight. Charlie said that it was because he had been in Romania and had really only been involved in the war this past year. It hurt Mrs. Weasley to know that one of her sons was still liable to be lost to the war, but she was proud of him. After he returned from France, he would probably start dating Cho and his new job would be Care of Magical Creatures Teacher at Hogwarts as soon as it was restored.  
  
Hagrid had never been found after the war.  
  
However, there was yet another individual that Ron knew who had stayed to fight in the Order; Draco Malfoy. Ever since his mother died he had sworn to have his revenge and was slowly gaining it with every wrong he righted. Draco was not the person that he had been before the war. He had been one of the ones who helped Ron on his way through the Death Eater's tunnels. Draco had also been the one to find him when it was all over and pull him out of the mess with the little strength he had left. His attitude hadn't changed much. Still obnoxious as ever, but he had humanity now and even though he would still make Ron's life a little harder when he messed up, it was usually only to cover up for a time when he had shown kindness to him.  
  
But Draco has not fully healed yet. Ron suspected it was because of the wound Pansy had left. They had dated on and off for their 5th, 6th, and 7th years, but Pansy really hadn't been more than a friend with benefits. Draco had always imagined marrying her and Pansy would have married him, but not for love, more for the name Malfoy and the power it had once held. However, when the war drafted him, Pansy moved on and was currently married to the 30 year old that she had been dating thoughout the war. He was rich and kept her safe. She had married him to stay in the country and was now bound to him for all eternity, which might not be long since he had a heart condition. Draco had gone to visit her and had only said one thing when he was asked what happened.  
  
"I hope she's happy with her money and power. Some things last forever. Money is not one of them."  
  
Now that Draco had gone through the war and seen some couples fight the way they did to stay together when everything was tearing them apart, he knew that he and Pansy had never really been in love. They had been in lust, but never truly loved each other. War had helped him see that and Ron found that war did almost as many good things as it did bad.  
  
Ginny had probably shocked everyone even more than Hermione did when she came home with Grace. That night in the confusion and happiness of everyone coming home Harry and Ginny had slipped out. Everyone was either too happy to notice or figured that they had gone upstairs for a more private celebration. However, in the morning, they did not seem to be anywhere. A few moments after the whole house was awake and looking for the two, a letter had arrived from a Mrs. and Mr. Potter.  
  
Yes, Ginny and Harry had eloped. Little Ginny who had always wanted a big wedding with a gorgeous frilly dress had got married in little more than a white sundress with an old blue sweater and flip-flops. Harry had run to the ring shop in Hogsmeade (which did a legendary trade of wedding bands that night) and bought the best ring for his bride. Then, they had gone straight to Dumbledore and asked him to marry them. Professor McGonagall had been the witness.  
  
They regretted not having their family or friends there with them but they were going to have a more official ceremony later. Ginny had said it had just been the right time to do it. A month later and they were still on their honeymoon. Tomorrow they would be coming home with more than a lot of explaining to do. But war made people realize what they had and what they could lose. When you're faced with situations like that you come to grips with what you know that you must do and both Harry and Ginny felt they had to do it, so, in a way, Ron felt they had been right.  
  
Late at night Ron still had nightmares about what he had seen. The only thing that could help was holding his baby girl. He would pick her up out of her bassinet and rock her in her rocking chair until he could hold her no more. She was like the one glimmer of hope that helped him live on. When he held her, Ron knew that he had to be strong for both her and Hermione.  
  
Sometimes he would bring Grace in his and Hermione's bed and lay her between them. Being next to both of them, knowing they were both safe, helped him . They were the most important people in his life and there was no way he would ever let anyone take that away from him. Never again, Ron swore, would he leave them.  
  
No matter how much Ron saw her, he could never get enough of his daughter. The reddish-brown curls atop her head, her perfect little fingers and toes, her sky blue eyes inherited from him, and Hermione's dimples on her cheeks all transfixed him each and every time her looked at her. She was his Saving Grace, his angel, and her mother was and forever would be his Bright Eyes, his Soul Mate.  
  
Ron climbed a few more steps and saw his old room. He didn't sleep there any more even though most of the family though he did. Every night he would sneak up to Hermione and Grace's room. He needed to be near them. Ron knew that his mother would not approve though, after all, Hermione and him were still not married. Even though they had a child, Ron had not even once taken her out on a date. They had never been boyfriend and girlfriend. They had never even had a real chance to talk about their feelings for one another before they had taken that big step in late June.  
  
They had gone from being just friends to engaged overnight, literally. Ron did love his little girl more than anything else in his life (Hermione not included), but he wished that she could have waited a few years before she entered their lives. Hermione and him had never had time because time had been stolen from them.  
  
Sure, they had been best friends for seven years and they had known just about everything about each other. And she had lived with him for a year too, but they had never been in a more than friendly relationship with each other before that night. Next thing you know, Hermione was pregnant for him. They had only been together once and even though Ron didn't regret in the least, he wished that they could have taken it a bit slower.  
  
He himself had told her that they shouldn't but three years of harbouring secret feelings for her and three years of him fantasizing about her had taken their toll. In the end, it wasn't that that made him give in to her but more the fact that she wanted it just as much as he did. The fact that she had told him that she loved him a million times that night and the fact that when he woke up she was in his arms let him know that she meant what she said.  
  
Then, he had waited for three longs months wondering where she was and if she was OK, but somehow, he knew she was. Something deep inside had told him that she was all right, but still he had worried for her. Then, the day before their teams' first mission, she had revealed herself. To think walking around for a whole week as Herman Grunting, knowing that he was right by her, but doing nothing about it. It must have killed her on the inside.  
  
When she had revealed herself, she had told him about the pregnancy. Hermione had known for two months before she told him. If she had known that she was pregnant, Hermione would have probably never come out to the lines of fire. Still, even though Ron knew that he shouldn't have been, he was glad that she had.  
  
It was then that he really believed without question that she truly and deeply loved him. In a way, he knew that Hermione had always loved him and he had always loved her. It had just been a matter of telling one another how they felt. Ron was glad that he knew this because it had been his love for Hermione and their baby that had saved him from the killing curse.  
  
After that he had come home for a while. It had been so nice to be home with Hermione. Mrs. Weasley had even let them sleep together during this time because of Ron's nightmares and the fact that Ron couldn't do any more damage considering Hermione's condition. Ron had even worse nightmares during this brief stay at home, but he would never wake Hermione during them; he didn't want to scare her. All Ron could do was pull her close and wait for the images of the war to clear his head.  
  
Sometimes he had held her until the morning light and sometimes he would peacefully fall asleep after an hour or so. However, soon Ron had to leave again. It had been Dumbledore himself who had written to Ron and asked him to join the Order. How could he have refused? It had hurt him to leave Hermione again, but Ron had known that she would have protection, even if he didn't believe that she would ever truly be safe without him by her side.  
  
A few months later, Hermione had come home and the Death Eaters had cleared out of Britain. That had been the first time he had seen his baby girl, in person anyway. From that moment on, his definition of love had changed. He had been a father. The idea had taken some getting use to, but he loved his angel more than anything else on earth.  
  
Harry and Ginny had a heartfelt reunion as well. Ron could only imagine what kind of dreams Harry had. His own were bad but thinking that you were responsible for all those people's deaths must have been worse. Even though they were on their Honeymoon at that very moment, Ron knew that he must still have those nightmares. That was partly why Ron hadn't been surprised or angry when he heard of their sudden and abrupt marriage. Harry had once told Ron that he never wanted to be without Ginny again, that he always wanted to be by her side to keep her safe. Harry needed Ginny in the way that only lovers can need each other.  
  
When one hurts, both hurt.  
  
Ron finally reached Hermione's room. He knocked on the door and heard a "come in" from Hermione. Ron opened the door to the room and stepped in shutting the door behind him. Hermione smiled brightly at him from her bed. Ron came over and planted a kiss on her forehead.  
  
"Hello," he said smiling.  
  
"Ron," Hermione said smiling.  
  
Ron sat down on her bed and Hermione continued, "Where's Grace?"  
  
Ron sighed and said, "With her Grandmum. Where else would she be?"  
  
"Should have known," Hermione replied, "your mum really does love her doesn't she?"  
  
"Too much in fact," Ron said, "I can never get a moment alone with my daughter."  
  
"Our daughter," corrected Hermione.  
  
"Yes, our daughter," Ron said stealing a kiss from Hermione.  
  
Hermione smiled and leaned back on the pillows of her bed. She closed her eyes and slowly exhaled opening them again to stare into space. Ron knew that look. Even though Hermione was smiling, there was a look in her eyes. A look that Ron knew well; worry. Hermione was worried and Ron had no idea why.  
  
"Bright Eyes," Ron said taking her hand and stroking it lightly, "what's the matter?"  
  
Hermione tucked a piece of hair behind her ear and slowly turning away from him, and said in a small voice, "What do you mean?"  
  
Ron brought his hand up to Hermione's face and turned it back to him saying, "Hermione, what's wrong? I know that look."  
  
Hermione sighed and looked out the window at the sunset. She pulled the covers back from her bed and, ever so slowly, got up. Ron ran around the bed and helped her. There was really no point in telling her to sit down. Hermione had always had a mind of her own. She would do what she wanted no matter what anyone told her, and it was one of the reasons that Ron loved her. In whatever she did, Ron would support her. He would support her because it was the only thing that he could do.  
  
"Easy now," Ron said as Hermione made her way over to the window and she stopped to look out of it.  
  
"Really Ron," Hermione exclaimed, "I'm not helpless!"  
  
Ron smirked and said, "You're not helpless and that's because I'm giving you help."  
  
Ron threw his arms around her waist and buried his head in her hair. How he loved the smell of her hair. She had told him many times that she loved how his hair smelled, but he really didn't see what was special about it besides the fact that it was an ugly shade of red. Ron really didn't see what was special about him. He really didn't see why an amazing girl like Hermione had given up all her dreams for him.  
  
However, he was glad that she did.  
  
"What's wrong," he said again rocking her back and forth slowly.  
  
Hermione sighed against him and was silent for a moment before continuing, "Do you ever think about them, Ron?"  
  
"Who?" Ron replied.  
  
Hermione took a deep breath and said, "My parents."  
  
Ron stood holding Hermione for a moment and said, "Yes, yes I do."  
  
"Do you ever wonder what they would think of me and what I've done?"  
  
Ron laughed and said, "No, I think of what your father would do to me. Never mess with an overprotective father. If anything like this ever happens to Grace, I'll kill the boy."  
  
Hermione laughed and said, "Yeah, he would have been a bit mad at you, but I know that he would have done the same thing if he had been in your position. He loved my mum that much and I know that somewhere, he still does. I know that somewhere, he still loves me, and somewhere he would understand about us. I know that he would be mad at me at me for making such a stupid decision, but I know that he would still love Grace with all his heart."  
  
Hermione stopped for a moment and continued, now with fresh tears running down her face, "and I'm sure that my mum would feel the same way."  
  
Ron held Hermione closer and asked, "Do you want to see them?"  
  
Hermione sniffed and said, "Yes."  
  
"Do you want me to come with you?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"What about Grace?"  
  
Hermione looked out the window and stared into the sunset for a minute like she was contemplating her answer before slowly answering, "Not yet. When Grace sees them I want her to really know them. I want her to know her grandparents and not just the shells of them."  
  
"OK," Ron said staring out the window, "if that's what you want."  
  
"Thank you," Hermione said shifting her gaze down to look at Mrs. Weasley and their daughter, who was now only visible from her cloud cradle by her curly brownish-red hair.  
  
"No," Ron said now looking down at their daughter too, "thank you."  
  
"For what?" Hermione said slightly turning to face him  
  
"For you and Grace," Ron said.  
  
"You're welcome," Hermione replied smiling.  
  
"And so are you." *****************  
  
"Are you OK, love?" Ron said as he held the hand of Hermione walking into St. Mungo's hospital.  
  
"Fine," Hermione lied.  
  
She nervously glanced around. Hermione had no been to see her parents since last May. The hospital brought back bad memories. The day Hermione had heard what happened, she had run in to see if her parents were all right. No one had known of the lasting damage that the simple word "crucio" would do to the Grangers. Hermione had missed two day of classes waiting to see if they would be all right. She had not eaten, she had not even slept, all she had done was wait. In the end, it was Ron who came and made her come back. She had been so weak that he had to carry her out of the hospital.  
  
It hadn't been until a week later that the Granger's had been stabilized and were in good physical health, but the Healers soon discovered that the Grangers' mental health was still unstable. They had endured so much pain, that finally they regressed it all, but it had been too much regressing for their minds to take. Finally, they got to the point where they could not remember anything. They had regressed their whole past and lost the ability to remember anything. The dark memories had swallowed up the good ones and finally, their minds had given in to the emptiness of the word "crucio."  
  
"Ron?" Hermione asked timidly.  
  
Ron stopped and looked at Hermione saying, "Yes."  
  
"Will you come with me?" Hermione said in a small voice.  
  
Ron smiled and replied, "Of course."  
  
Hermione smiled and they continued to walk down the hall. There were many hospital rooms with many patients occupying them. Most of which were there from the war. Many families were not as lucky as the Weasley's. Many families had lost loved ones and many more had injured ones here. Ron had even been here for a short time while he was unconscious. He remembered how it had been when he woke up.  
  
There had been people screaming with pain around him. Nurses dressed in white rushing to find a Healer for a patient. It hadn't been noticed that he was awake for a good hour and that had only been because Fred and George had asked Angelina and Katie to check up on their little brother if they had any time to spare. Of course, nurses didn't really have any free time, most of the time was spent monitoring severe cases and running for Healers if a patient flat-lined. The causalities of the war had been many. Ron was only thankful that he lived to see Hermione and Grace and that he was living everyday on. For even though the war was over in Britain, it would be forever scarred on the world, on the people who lived through it, and in his very soul.  
  
Some souls had not even been released from their pain. Ghosts still walked the battlefield where they died or the bleak cots where they took their last breath as ever-present reminders of the war. To those like Ron, the war would re-live itself often in his memory and it would never die because the memory would always be alive. In a way, Ron though that the Granger's had it best, **semi-colon** they would not remember any of this. But in another way Hermione's parents had it worst; they would not remember anything.  
  
It seemed strange to Ron that the war was both; the cause of his happiness and the cause of his pain. If he hadn't ever been drafted, Hermione and him might not have ever come clean about their feelings for one another and Grace wouldn't have been conceived. But then the war had also take away many friends and people he looked up to. In truth, it was hard to believe that the war wasn't even over yet. It still raged on in other parts of the world as strong as ever.  
  
But even though the war was hard, this was harder.  
  
Ron had to watch Hermione see her parents. He had to watch her go through this yet again. When he had come to see them with her at Hogwarts, it had been hard. He had always just been there as a "good friend", but deep-down in his heart he knew that he was there for more than just to live up to that role.  
  
Ron had to watch the sad expressions on her face. He had to see the sadness in her eyes and worst of all, he had to let her do this. Ron knew that she wanted to see her parents, but he hated the way it made her feel afterwards. At Hogwarts, she would always cry in his arms and eventually she would always gain sweet release in the form of sleep. Then, he would carry her up to her dormitory and lay with her for a while until he was sure she would not wake.  
  
Hermione had never known that he had done this. He would always nestle right next to her and it was there and then that he had admitted both to himself and to her that he loved her. Ron remembered the evening well. It had been a milestone in his life. He remembered the way that the words had first escaped his lips. They had not been planned or even coherently thought out. They had just come.  
  
He had just said, "I love you Hermione" out of the blue. It had shocked even himself that he had said them and, to be quite frank, scared him because he had known that he had meant them. Ron knew exactly how Hermione had felt about love at the time. She stated quite often that no one was truly in love at their age and it had been on her list of most aggravating things (right next to Ron teasing her).  
  
And still he had told her. However, Hermione hadn't heard him that time and some part of Ron thought it best that their feelings for each other hadn't been realized there and then. Still, there had always been that hope, no matter how childish it was and no matter how improbable it sounded, that she might have heard him confess his love to her there and then. That she might have suddenly awakened and thrown herself on him, also confessing her undying love, but it didn't happen.  
  
No, Ron thought, that was really only the kind of thing you saw in those old movies that his mum used to watch at the old Muggle theatre in town. Once, his father had brought home an old TV that caught very few channels. It was the summer that Hermione had lived with him after that attack on her parents. She had worked on the TV a bit that day and messed with two wires that stuck up from the top (she called them something the started with an "A" but Ron's memory failed him) and soon it was showing what she called a black and white movie.  
  
The picture portrayed by the old screen had been unfocused and the "movie," as Hermione called it, had been somewhat sappy and pointless to anyone who was not female. While it played Fred and George had pretended to faint in each other's arms and repeated "Oh Fred" and "Oh George" an exuberant number of times until Mrs. Weasley called Angelina and Katie over to watch it and brush up on their Muggle studies of the 40's and 50's while enjoying a "nice old-fashion love story". After that, Fred and George had been forced to watch it and behave in front their girlfriends.  
  
But really, Ron thought, the idea itself had been foolish. However, even then it just went to show you how much he had been in love with Hermione. It had hurt him to see her hurt, for when you're in love it's just like that. It Doesn't matter if you don't understand why their hurting, you will hurt as well just by seeing them sad and tormented inside. Ron always wondered if he should tell Hermione about that time in her room where he had admitted his love for her, but then that had been his moment to keep forever and store in his memory until his dying days. Hermione already believed that Ron loved her, she didn't need him to tell her. He only wished that there were a way to show his love for her, one that would help far more than going with her to see her parents. But he could think of nothing.  
  
The hospital room was dark and quiet. There were curtains around dividing the room into halves. On one side resided the Longbottoms. Now aged and grey, they still had no memory. They just sat in their beds and various objects were put in front of them to keep them busy. Hermione never got to see the Longbottoms, her parents lived right across from them and didn't know they existed. They would hardly recognize recognise that anyone was in the room besides them. It was a sad way to live, Ron thought. But the Granger's and the Longbottom's were not the only victims of this, even if they might be the only ones who physically suffered. There were others who had been hurt more.  
  
Ron followed Hermione as she went to the left of the curtain. Ron saw there were many pictures. Many of them were Muggle ones taken of Hermione and her parents at different occasions. There was a picture of Hermione as a baby, Hermione sitting back in a dentists chair as her father observed what looked like her first tooth, Hermione being kissed by her mother, what looked like a family portrait of all three Granger's, Hermione on her fist day of nursery school, Mr. and Mrs. Granger hugging their daughter as she held up a certificate, and there were even a few magical pictures (Ron himself was in a few) as well as some of Mr. and Mrs. Granger at their wedding. Hermione tightened her grip on Ron's hand s she spotted her parents.  
  
Mrs. Granger was first to be seen. She quite resembled Hermione in certain ways, her complexion, the dimples in her cheeks, and her button nose. But she had blue eyes and though her hair had the same bushy quality to it, instead of brown it was black flecked with grey hairs now appearing to show her age. She looked as though, at one time, she had been bookish like Hermione. Her hair had been French braided back to keep it out of her way as she toyed around with some of he objects laid out in front of her on the neatly folded bed spread. She looked up at Hermione and smiled pleasantly before returning to her business of trying to figure out what the strange object in her hands was. Her smile showed the dimples of her cheeks and made the newly added wrinkles of age become apparent. However, the eyes remained the same. The same soulless, lifeless eyes that hardly knew where they were or why the rest of them were smiling.  
  
Mr. Granger lay only a few feet over. Ron didn't think he resembled Hermione as much as his wife did, although his hair was the same mousy brown colour and his eyes were the same chestnut brown as Hermione's. His hair, like his wife's, was dulled with grey and was slightly wavy. His features were quite stern and he wore glasses perched on the end of his nose. Ron remembered meeting him, before all this had happened. His face had been the same, his features strict and terrifying to a boy at the young age of 16, but his eyes had always been like Hermione. His eyes had always been the one thing that made him look friendly, but now they no longer held that light which lightened his face. Now, his eyes were only just another dark and dismal feature of a man with no purpose and no place in neither the Muggle or Magical world.  
  
"Hello, Mum, Dad," Hermione said, cheerfully even though her eyes betrayed her false happiness.  
  
Mr. and Mrs. Granger stopped and each looked up at Hermione with curious eyes, but only stared for a moment before continuing to fiddle with the items so new to them even thought they probably had done the exact same thing everyday since their enclosure in the hospital. Hermione went and sat next to her mother and began to talk in the false hope that she would answer.  
  
"So how are things Mum?"  
  
Hermione waited a moment for words she would never hear. She knew that she wouldn't but it was the hope that kept her going. The hope that one day her mother would look up at her again and ask her how her day was going like she had done every day while Hermione was home. At the time, Hermione had taken those little things for granted. She'd always replied with a monotone "fine" or "good." Never thinking that a day would come where no one would ask her that and her mother would remain silent while she yearned to hear her voice once more.  
  
"A lot has happened since I talked to you last, you know. I mean I've grown up so much and I've even had a baby. I wish you could have been there so much. I always though that you would and I know that you would if you could have been," Hermione lips quavered for a moment. "Her name is Grace Laura Weasley. You've always like the name Laura. You told me so when I was ten, Dad. I remember we were on the patio and you said that if you ever had another daughter, Laura would be her name. Everyone says she looks so much like me and I guess that means that she looks a lot like you too, doesn't it Mum?"  
  
Ron stood by the front of the Grangers beds and watched Hermione. It was almost too much for him to bear. To watch Hermione talk to her parents and get no response from them especially when she loved them so dearly. To watch her force a smile while her eyes so clearly told another tale of severe sadness. It hurt him to watch her, that this was something she had to do. Ron swore to himself that one day he would right this wrong. He never wanted to see Hermione hurt like this, but he had to, he had to let her do this. And then Hermione called him forward.  
  
"There is someone I would like you to meet mum, Dad," she said as she took Ron's hand and guided him to stand where she sat.  
  
"This is Ron. He's Grace's father. He was one of my friends from school. I think you met him back in fifth year, didn't you Dad?"  
  
Mr. Granger continued to fiddle with the marker board and markers he had been given.  
  
"Do you Mum?"  
  
Mrs. Granger turned over the brush in her hands trying to figure out what its use was. Hermione's smiled quavered for a moment and it was evident to Ron that she was fighting tears even though a fake smile was apparent on her face. Slowly it stated to fade and she rose.  
  
"Ron," she said standing up from the chair and taking a firmer grip on his hand, "let's go home."  
  
"Goodbye Mum, Dad," Hermione added turning to her parents who were still oblivious to her existence.  
  
Hermione began to walk out but Ron did not follow. There was something that he thought he needed to do. True, it was sentimental and would probably be a waste of time, and a little voice in the back of his head kept asking him, "Why?" However, another little voice was also asking, "Why not?"  
  
"Can I stay for a minute, if it's okay with you?" Ron asked Hermione who looked at him for a moment before nodding soundlessly and walking out.  
  
Ron really had no idea why he wanted to talk to Hermione's parents. Mrs. Granger was still fiddling with the brush and Mr. Granger was writing on a markers board in strange lines that made no sense. Nevertheless, Ron sat down in the chair and began to speak to them.  
  
"So, Mr. and Mrs. Granger. well. I guess you know me. I remember I met you in fifth year the day you picked up Hermione from the station. You know, Mr. Granger, you scared me out of my wits. I had liked Hermione even then. But you Mrs. Granger, I remember you reminded me of Hermione. Especially when you told Mr. Granger not to use the word "damn." It reminded me of Hermione and myself.  
  
Ron stopped for a second and took a deep breath remembering that day and the days that succeeded that day. "But that was the first and last time I really met you. Mid-sixth year Hermione got the news of your condition. I wasn't there when she was told, but when she missed Transfiguration I knew something was wrong. I remember I just got up and walked out in the middle of the lesson because I couldn't stand not knowing where she was and I found her in her dormitory. She was crying. I had never seen Hermione really cry before that day. I had seen her shed a few tears here and there, but never like that."  
  
Ron stopped for a moment and continued, "For months after she was in bad shape. Once, she even tried to kill herself, but I really didn't even need to talk her out of it. Hermione's strong, she always does what's right, even if it's hard for her. She's so smart too, so compassionate, and caring for everyone."  
  
"You did a good job with her, you know?" Ron said turning his head either way to look at the Granger's.  
  
"I don't deserve her," he said with his head down, "I wish she could have better, but this is the best that I can do."  
  
Ron reached into his pocket and pulled out a velvet box. "I want to give this to her, but I haven't done it yet. As crazy as it sounds and as pointless as this might be, I wanted to ask you first. I guess you could blame it on my Mum. She taught us all to be gentlemen."  
  
Ron laughed softly, "Guess I haven't been one lately but I'm working on it."  
  
"I know that Hermione could do so much better than me and for so all that she's given up for me. I just wish I could make her dreams come true. I wish I could give her what she deserves. but this is it," Ron said as he looked down at the case and slowly opened it to reveal a silver ring with a small diamond on top. The ring had reminded him so much of Hermione, plain but elegance beyond beauty. "This is.." Ron stuttered, "the best I can do."  
  
There was silence for a moment and then Ron spoke again, "I know you can't hear me and I know that I don't deserve her, but give me the chance and I'll make her as happy as I can."  
  
"May I marry your daughter?"  
  
The room was silent. It was so strange to have just asked a question like that and to get silence as your response. Ron just sat for a while, he knew he had been foolish to actually believe that they would answer, but there was still the hope that they might have had one ounce of their former selves, that they might have had just enough left to answer this pivotal question in his life. Ron got up to leave but he felt a pair of eyes on him.  
  
A pair of eyes. Not a pair of soulless, lifeless eyes but real eyes. Eyes that were living. Eyes that were alive and coherent. He slowly turned around and saw who they belonged to.  
  
Mr. Granger was looking at him. He wasn't smiling but his eyes were there. The same eyes at the train station that had made his face look friendly against his stern features. The lines started to fade away and Ron could tell that the deep chocolate brown eyes of Hermione's father were studying him intently. Then as soon as they were studying him up and down, they were looking straight at his face and into his own piercing blue eyes. Suddenly, it was as if words were not needed. Ron knew what his answer was. It was not in his face or body or even on his tongue.  
  
It was in his eyes, the eyes he gave Hermione.  
  
Ron turned his head to look at Mrs. Granger. Even though her hands continued to fiddle with the brush, silent tears ran down her cheeks and onto the bedspread. Her face was emotionless but her eyes conveyed all the feeling that she could not express. All the things that she had passed to Hermione stood out now and even if they were no showing feeling, the fresh tears making their way down her face was all the emotion Ron needed to make his decision about how she felt abut his question.  
  
Ron smiled and said into the stillness, "Thank you."  
  
He turned around and didn't look back, slipping the velvet ring case back into his pocket and heading for the door.  
  
He had his answer. Maybe the Granger's were still in there after all. If not in body, then in soul.  
  
~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~  
  
Harry and Ginny had just come back when Hermione and Ron arrived home from St. Mungo's. It was dark outside and evening had fallen already, but the Burrow was alight with laughter. Everyone was there. It was the second party at the Weasley house since the end of the war. Mrs. Weasley quickly informed them that they had shown up just shy of an hour before Ron and Hermione returned and from there (with the 'help' of Fred and George's ample supply of 'party goods' - butterbeer as well as stronger such drinks included) the party had begun. Even Percy seemed to be happier than usual, although that might have been because his fiancée Penny had just spent the last thirty minutes slow dancing with him (among the drinks he had consumed).  
  
The only Weasley who didn't seem to be there was Charlie, but since he was somewhere in France they could hardly expect it of him. Everyone was dancing and having a good time. At once, Harry and Ginny had come over to Ron and Hermione with greeting or (in Harry's case) apologies for running off so fast. Ron merely smiled and clapped Harry on the back making sure to tell him that Ginny still had five other brothers around even if one was in France in case there were any problems, before laughing it off as a joke when Hermione gave him a very familiar look of disapproval.  
  
And yet behind the large smile as Ginny showed Hermione her wedding ring, there was that look again. Ron had seen it many times before. She was wondering about her future again. Ron knew that Hermione would never give up her dreams of curing her parents and going to school gaining all sorts of knowledge, but she couldn't do it. She didn't want to leave Ron and ultimately, if she had to chose between doing what she wanted to do or doing what he wanted to do, Hermione would always side with what he wanted. Hermione would do anything for Ron and Grace, and if that meant only dreaming about things she wanted, then so be it. She would dream and do nothing more than that. Her hopes would always be alive, even if they didn't seem possible.  
  
Ron smiled in spite of himself. He couldn't help but notice how beautiful Hermione was. It didn't even look like she had had a baby. She was just as thin as she had been before. Maybe a little wider in her hips and he couldn't help but notice that other places had grown as well. She was still the same old Hermione though. Despite the war and despite everything that she had went through, her eyes still lit up when she read a new book, that thirst for knowledge still intact. All her old habits were still there too; the way she chewed on the end of her quill when she was deep in thought, or the way that you could dance naked in front of her when she was working and she wouldn't even notice. All the things that made Hermione who she was were still there. However, Ron couldn't help but notice that she was forming new habits as well.  
  
She was a bit overprotective now, of everybody, especially Grace. She also couldn't stand the little things anymore, like hair in a person's eyes, or dirt on a person's nose. Hermione had really never been tolerant of untidiness though. However, Ron had known that for a long time, it had in fact been how they had met. At the time, he had liked her, from the very moment she had walked in. It had been sort of like destiny.  
  
"By the way, you've got dirt on your nose, did you know?"  
  
Her exact words. Ron had been too confused to answer. He hadn't known that, as he hadn't known that later that year she would become his best friend. He still picked on her though, but it was just the sort of thing that guys did to girls they liked in younger ages, silly really. He had teased her to the point of where she had gone and locked herself in the girls' bathroom only to be attacked by a troll later and form a friendship with him that would lead to so much more. He hadn't known that either. But then there were so many things that he wanted to learn from her. So many questions that needed answering. He had one in particular. It felt right now.  
  
"Hermione," Ron said as he bid Harry goodbye, "Hermione."  
  
"Over here Ron," Hermione said as she rocked Grace back and forth while talking to Ginny.  
  
Ron smiled as he made his way over to them. Hermione smiled back over at him while she rocked Grace. It was amazing all the things that Hermione could do at one time. Ron had even heard talk of his mother teaching her to cook once she was fully recovered. She was something, already thinking about the future. Ron wouldn't be surprised if she was already trying to plan out Grace's class schedule. Grace would go to Hogwarts of course, Ron had already made sure her name was the first on the list.  
  
"Ron," Ginny said as he hugged her, "I'm so glad you're back. Just look at her, Ron!" Ginny said as she stared adoringly at Grace, "she looks so much like Hermione, but just look at those eyes, they're yours."  
  
Grace smiled and wriggled around and Ron could only manage a "yeah" as he continued to stare at his daughter for a second. She did looks so much like her mother, but as Ginny had said, she had his eyes.  
  
"Thanks Gin," Ron said focusing his mind back on he task at hand, "can you take her for a minute? I want to dance with my Hermione here."  
  
Hermione blushed a shade of scarlet to rival Ron's hair as Ginny giggled a bit and took Grace quickly and began to coo over her new niece. Ron took Hermione's hands in his and pulled her onto the dance floor as a slow Muggle song began to play. She settled in his arms and breathed out a sigh of relief. Ron held her close. It was amazing how she seemed to fit perfectly in his arms.  
  
"Sometimes the snow comes down in June  
  
Sometimes the sun goes 'round the moon  
  
I see the passion in your eyes  
  
Sometimes it's all a big surprise"  
  
"I like that," Hermione said softly into Ron's shirt.  
  
"What?"  
  
"What you called me, 'My Hermione,' 'your Hermione' I like when you say I'm yours," Hermione answered as she breathed in the scent that was distinctly Ron.  
  
"Do you really want to be mine?" Ron asked.  
  
Hermione tensed in Ron's arms and replied, "Of course I do."  
  
"Do you really want me," Ron asked, "just me. Just Ron's."  
  
"Yes," Hermione answered, "I love you."  
  
"Cause there was a time when all I did was wish,  
  
You'd tell me this was love  
  
It's not the way I hoped or how I planned  
  
But somehow it's enough"  
  
Ron held he close and closed his eyes. For the life of him he couldn't figure out why Hermione Granger would want to be with him. He couldn't figure out why a person as wonderful as Hermione would want to give it all up to be with "Just Ron." He had no money, he had no fame. he had nothing but Grace and Hermione. They were his everything. He just hoped that he could be their everything also, everything they wanted and deserved.  
  
"And now we're standing face to face  
  
Isn't this world a crazy place?  
  
Just when I thought a chance had passed  
  
You go and save the best for last"  
  
Hermione leaned up against Ron and breathed his scent in again. She wondered why he was asking her all of those questions. He was good enough. Why wouldn't he be good enough? Did he think she deserved better? Even if he did, she would have none of it. Ron was meant to be with her. She had dreamt of that ever since first year when she had had a small crush on him. It had laid dormant for a few years and Hermione had thought it all gone when it had really been growing and mid-fifth year, it had returned as something more developed than a mere crush. It had been love. From there her love for him had only grown.  
  
She had seen Ron through thick and thin in those years that her love was growing. She had seen girl after girl break his heart and leave it in pieces, then she had been to shy to step in and tell him how she felt. However, there had been clues, especially when her parents were attacked.  
  
Hermione bit back tears at the thought and repressed the memory. Once, she even dreamt that he told her he loved her after one of her nights, but it had been only a dream, at least she thought it had only been a dream.  
  
"All of the nights you came to me  
  
When some silly girl had set you free  
  
You wondered how you'd make it through  
  
I wondered what was wrong with you"  
  
And now felt right for both of them. Ron knew that she loved him, he had always known to some extent, but now was his chance. It wasn't a leap of faith. She had already planned on marrying him, but he had never really asked. It had just been an understanding between them. However, he had never asked her.  
  
Ron needed to ask her if she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him.  
  
"You keep can your love from everyone  
  
yet share your dreams with me  
  
Sometimes of everything you're looking for  
  
It's the one thing you can't see"  
  
"Hermione" Ron said timidly.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Can I ask you something?" Ron said as he pulled her away from the dance floor.  
  
"Yes."  
  
Ron stuck his hand in his pocket and fingered the ring. It was simple. It was his ring for her.  
  
"Hermione, I know I'm not anything special and I'll never be as famous as Harry or as smart as you, but if you'll have me, then you can be mine and I can be yours .forever."  
  
Hermione held her breath as Ron hit one knee and pulled a ring from his pocket. The whole world had faded away. All the Weasley's were not looking at them. Mrs. Weasley had not just dropped her vase. Penelope had not just let out a sob. There was nothing but Ron and her and Grace and the ring, but most importantly a choice that was her future.  
  
"But now we're standing face to face  
  
Isn't this world a crazy place?  
  
Just when I thought a chance had passed  
  
You go and save the best for last Sometimes of everything you're looking for  
  
It's the one thing you can't see"  
  
"Yes," Hermione said in a breath that was so soft but ran through the silent kitchen.  
  
Ron smiled the boyish grin that he had worn so often in his younger years at Hogwarts. Hermione almost didn't realize that she was crying until Ron wiped away her tears with his thumb and picked up her hand. Slowly she watched as he slid the ring on her finger. It was beautiful. Not as flashy as Ginny's. There was only one diamond in the center. Still, the ring was timeless and elegant, and Hermione could not have picked a better ring herself.  
  
"Sometimes the snow comes down in June  
  
Sometimes the sun goes 'round the moon  
  
Just when I thought a chance had passed  
  
You go and save the best for last"  
  
~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~  
  
It was perfect. Everything was utterly and unimaginably perfect.  
  
He Ron was officially marrying the girl of his dreams, the woman that would bear his two Quidditch teams of children. There was nothing that could be better. Nothing on Earth that could make him happier.  
  
Ron bid the last guest goodbye and sat down in the rocking chair in the living room of the Burrow. Soon after, Mrs. Weasley handed Grace to him and told him that she was going up to bed before giving him a hug and telling him how proud she was of him and how happy she was. He rocked Grace back and forth in the same chair that his father had rocked him. She was asleep quickly. It had been a big day for her, for all of them.  
  
Slowly he stood and walked up the stairs, a month of practicing walking up stairs without waking a sleeping baby had paid off when he reached Hermione and the baby's room without her waking up. Ron was about to enter when voices from the inside peeked his interest. Ron bit his lip, what would it hurt to listen.  
  
"I'm so happy Ginny," said Hermione's voice.  
  
"I can imagine and your ring, it's beautiful," replied Ginny's voice.  
  
"Oh Ginny," Hermione said, "everything's so perfect, you know but."  
  
Ron heard a creak of a wooden chair and Ginny asked, "But what, Hermione?"  
  
"It's nothing," she replied quickly but Ron knew she was lying.  
  
"Yes it is Hermione. What's wrong?"  
  
Hermione took a deep breath and said, "I don't know Gin. I love Ron and I love Grace, but do you ever get the feeling that there's something more that you're meant to do? I mean I want to marry Ron, I do more than anything and my dreams will always be alive, but I want to do more than just dream them. I want to live them and I want Ron and Grace to be a part of them. I don't know how though. Ron wants a big family and I do too. But I want to go to school also and learn more and if I'm having a family, how can I do that. I just feel there's something more I'm meant to do."  
  
There was a long pause and then Ron heard Ginny cross and put her hand on Hermione's shoulder in comfort.  
  
"We'll figure it out Hermione, we will."  
  
Ron turned and walked back down the stairs careful again not to wake Grace. He wandered back into the living room and sat back down in the chair and began to rock Grace again.  
  
"I dunno Angel," he said to her, "you think we could manage?"  
  
There was no answer for his little Angel was fast asleep in the arms of her father.  
  
Ron sighed.  
  
He knew what he had to do. He had to let her go. After all that she had given up for him it was the least he could do. If he loved her, and he did, he had to let her go.  
  
He had to let Hermione follow her dreams.  
  
To be continued.  
  
(A/N: I know, I know the cliffe! Please review and tell me what you think if you have time. Thanks for reading!) 


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